


Beginner's Luck

by bertee



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Abduction, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Attempted Rape, Dragons, Drunk Sex, Duelling, First Time, Haunting, M/M, Prison, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-04
Updated: 2012-08-04
Packaged: 2017-11-11 10:24:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertee/pseuds/bertee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Medieval-esque fantasy AU. </p><p>Dashing-adventurer!Jared meets male-equivalent-of-a-damsel-in-distress!Jensen, who is on the run from a very shady JDM. With a little (read: a lot) of help from Jensen, Jared overcomes various hazards including a fire-breathing dragon, a haunted forest, and a nymph who is adamant that Jared should come to live with her underwater.</p><p> Jared's reputation grows as a result of his heroics but before he and Jensen can plan their happily ever after, Jensen's past rears its ugly head, putting both of their lives in danger. It turns out that disgruntled dragons are the least of Jared's problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beginner's Luck

**Author's Note:**

> Written for spn-j2-bigbang. [Art](http://amindaya.livejournal.com/14225.html) by amindaya@LJ.

In Jared's opinion, being a dashing adventurer was a totally legitimate career choice.

True, he still wasn't one hundred percent clear on precisely what a dashing adventurer did, other than having adventures while being dashing, but then again, he'd never been a detail-oriented kind of guy. After all, if Chad had managed to do it, it couldn't be that hard.

Despite having no skills (or dignity) to speak of, Chad had somehow overthrown a cruel dictator in the Western Plains, married a princess who, frankly, was way out of his league, and was now beloved by a whole kingdom. Given that when they were growing up together, Chad had been known for getting his head stuck in unfortunate locations and causing pig stampedes, often at the same time, his career success story was a persuasive one.

With that in mind, Jared had set out from home two months earlier with his horse, his sword, his pack, and a generous parcel of his mom's hylik pie in the hopes of gaining fame and fortune across the glorious land of Potecia. 

Things hadn't exactly gone to plan so far.

While he had encountered some fearsome beasts, he knew that slaying an angry badger and its gopher henchmen wasn't going to secure his eternal fame. In Fyron, he'd then attempted to fight what he thought was a succubus, only to wind up apologizing profusely to the very nice and very offended bartender who'd just been looking for a hook-up. Finally, he'd gone out on an exploratory mission in Aerith, the highlight of which was rescuing a kitten from a tree and riding back to the village with the overexcited kitten trying to climb up his chest.

Being a dashing adventurer was harder than it looked.

Still dejected from his latest failure in Jeteis -- seriously, how was he supposed to know that the princess was a werewolf? -- Jared led Sadie over to drink from the creek while he studied his map to select his next destination. Marlo was supposed to be nice this time of year if you could get past the goblin problem.

The decision was soon made for him when he heard a rustle in the trees to his left.

Whirling around, Jared looked up in time to see a man come running through the thicket at the top of the ridge above the creek.

It was like watching a wagon crash (with approximately the same chance of getting hit by flying splinters.) The man let out a shout of surprise when he found himself approaching the hidden edge of the ridge and stopped abruptly, grabbing onto the nearest tree branch to keep himself from falling. 

Unfortunately, the tree was no match for his momentum and Jared's yell of warning was lost to the snap of wood when the branch broke off with a crack under the man's hand.

The man flailed, grabbing at nothing but air as he tipped over the edge, and Jared ran forward, wincing in sympathy as he watched the man tumble down the slope. "Fuck…"

It was impossible to pinpoint the blow that knocked him out as he went careening down over the rocks and fallen logs but the man's body was limp as he rolled down the final part of the slope to fall in a motionless slump at Jared's feet.

"Shit, shit, shit," Jared said under his breath. Glad that his momma wasn't around to chew him out for cursing, he knelt down beside the man's body to untangle him and to check for a pulse. 

He couldn't help his sigh of relief when he found one, beating strong and fast from the exertion of running, and Jared ran a hand through his hair as he tried to work out what the next step was.

Stories of dashing adventurers were sadly lacking in medical tips for forest-related injuries.

"Hey," he said, shaking the guy gently. "Hey, can you hear me?"

Unhelpfully, the man didn't respond and Jared tilted his head to get a better look at him. His clothes were ragged and filthy, which ruled out any fanciful daydreams Jared might have had about rescuing a handsome prince and living happily ever after, and his skin seemed equally grimy, making Jared wonder how long he'd been running for. 

His hair and his beard were both thick and dark, sooty enough that Jared couldn't tell how much was hair and how much was dirt. If he hadn't rolled down a hill to land in an unconscious heap right in front of him, Jared would've assumed he was a beggar on the run from a patrol and paid him no further attention.

Beggar or not, common decency prevented Jared from leaving him alone in the woods like this and he whistled for Sadie as he got to his feet. Sadie trotted over, giving the guy on the ground an experimental sniff, and Jared stroked her mane with a smile when she looked less than impressed by whatever she smelled.

"Hey, ease up on the judging," he told her. "I know you don't like new people but he's hurt." He scritched behind her ears. "Plus I get to finally help someone now."

Admittedly, it would've been more satisfying to help a beautiful damsel in distress or, at the very least, someone who wasn't a possible serial killer but Jared would take what he could get.

It took an embarrassing amount of effort to get the guy off the ground and up onto Sadie's back. Jared was thankful that the guy stayed unconscious throughout and therefore couldn't judge him for falling flat on his ass on two separate occasions. Stability had never really been his strong point.

It was with a bruised ass that he eventually got the man loaded onto Sadie's back. Sadie hesitated, unaccustomed to the new weight on her back, and Jared kept his voice low as he coaxed her forward. "Good girl. Take it slow, that's it."

The man on her back didn't stir as Jared headed back into the depths of the forest but nonetheless Jared found himself cheered at the prospect of having something to do. Sure, a dashing nursemaid wasn't as impressive-sounding as a dashing adventurer but it was progress.

Nodding happily to himself, Jared strode onward through the forest, praying quietly under his breath as he went. 

"Please don't be a murderer, please don't be a murderer…"

  


After making it to a cottage without being murdered, Jared decided to count that as a success.

He wasn't sure who the cottage belonged to but the layers of dust and the lack of corpses were a winning combination in deciding where to rest for the night. He put the unconscious stranger in the bedroom, leaving him some hylik pie in case he was hungry and a bowl of water in case he wanted to get reacquainted with the concept of hygiene, and then tended to Sadie and fixed his own supper. 

The man didn't stir once all evening and as Jared settled in to sleep on the table under some spare blankets, he found himself oddly disappointed by the lack of activity. 

At least if he was a bloodthirsty killer, Jared would have an excuse to do battle with someone.

  


Jared was woken the next morning by the sound of someone pounding on the door.

Panicking that he was about to be butchered by his current housemate, Jared promptly fell off the table in a tangle of limbs as he lunged for his sword.

"Ow..."

The pounding on the door didn't let up and Jared rubbed his aching knee as the person outside yelled, "Open up in there!"

"Coming!" he called, limping across the room as fast as he could. He tripped over a chair on the way, sending it smashing to the ground with a clatter, but he made it to the door before the person outside could break it down.

Upon opening the door, Jared was not excited to come face to face with a party of armed men.

Suddenly very conscious of the fact that he had yet to put on any pants, he hid his lower half behind the door and asked as amicably as he could, "Can I help you?"

One of the men stepped forward. He didn't look like a particularly reputable individual, judging by the scar running down his cheek and the selection of knives and daggers in his possession, but he was wearing clothes, so he was ahead of Jared in that respect. 

"You alone here, sir?"

His mouth didn't fit easily around the term of address. Jared suspected he wasn't the kind of man who had much use for courtesy.

Eyeing the weapons of the men at the door, Jared gulped. He didn't want to hand the stranger over to what looked like a gang of mercenaries but at the same time he really didn't want to have to fight a gang of mercenaries without any pants on.

"I-"

"Hey, handsome, are you coming back to bed or…?"

Jared's eyebrows shot up at the voice from behind him and he spun around to see that the bedroom door was now open. However, instead of a swarthy, bearded stranger, there was now a very pretty, half-naked stranger who was leaning against the doorjamb with a sheet wrapped around his hips. His (now lighter) hair was a mess and his body was decorated with a smattering of scratches and bruises, which looked as though they'd been acquired during a vigorous bout of rough sex.

The man's eyes went wide when he saw the armed men at the door and he tugged his sheet further up as he said, embarrassed, "God, I'm sorry. I didn't realize anyone else was here." He flashed the men a sheepish smile. "Is everything okay?"

The leader seemed less taken aback than Jared was by the appearance of an attractive, naked stranger. He hooked his thumb through his belt-loop in a not-so-subtle attempt to draw the stranger's attention to his groin and Jared rolled his eyes when the mercenary asked with a leer, "And who might you be?"

Wanting to regain some control of the situation, Jared gave the first answer that popped into his head. "A prostitute."

Unfortunately, the stranger did the same. "His husband."

Jared froze at the suspicious glare which crossed the mercenary's face but the stranger jumped in with a correction. "I'm his husband who's pretending to be a prostitute. Y'know. Roleplay."

This explanation was accompanied by a wink in the mercenary's direction and Jared tried very hard not to roll his eyes again.

The mercenary licked his lips. "You do make an excellent whore."

The stranger smiled and blushed, apparently charmed by the least appropriate compliment ever, and Jared gave in to the eye-rolling urge.

"If you, uh, wanna make it more realistic," the mercenary began, reaching for his purse of coins, but Jared cut him off before he could get any further.

"We're good, thanks." Feeling weirdly protective of the guy he didn't know in the cottage that wasn't his, Jared forced a smile as he asked politely, "Is there anything else we can help you with?"

The mercenary scowled, clearly annoyed at being denied a chance to fuck Jared's fake husband for money, and he stepped back to join his men. "Have you seen a man pass this way lately? About my height, red hair, walks with a limp, has a birthmark on the inside of his arm?"

Jared shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "Not seen anyone go by lately."

The stranger in the bedroom shook his head too, holding up his forearms. "No birthmarks here." He smiled. "I hope you get your man though."

"I always do," the mercenary promised, curling his hand around the hilt of the dagger on his belt and stroking suggestively. All it suggested to Jared was that either he liked giving out free handjobs to people he captured or he had sexual feelings towards weaponry. 

Neither of those thoughts were appealing.

The mercenary barely spared Jared a glance when he'd finished jerking off his dagger and he ducked into a lazy bow before departing. "Good day, gentlemen."

Jared closed the door before the leader could start fellating a bow and arrow but he kept watch through the window as the gang had headed off into the forest. It was only when they were out of sight that he turned around to look at the formerly unconscious stranger, who now had his hands on his hips and an offended expression on his face.

"A prostitute? Seriously?"

Jared glared right back at him. "What was I supposed to say?!" 

"Oh, I don't know, something other than 'prostitute'?"

"You were naked!"

"And you went straight to 'hooker' as an explanation? Gee, thanks."

"What did you want me to tell them?" Jared snapped. He was pretty sure damsels in distress were supposed to be more grateful after they'd been rescued, even if this damsel did happen to be a guy. "'Oh, yeah, this is just some stranger who knocked himself unconscious in the middle of the woods while he was running away from someone.' That doesn't sound shady at all!"

Jared enjoyed the hit of vindication when the stranger seemed to back down at that. Running a hand through his newly-clean hair, he tugged the sheet up higher around his waist and asked, "I guess you helped me? I don't remember much beyond lots of trees." He frowned. "And then the ground."

"You fell," Jared explained. "You were running and you lost your footing on a slope."

The stranger looked around. "So you took me home with you?"

Jared bit his lip. "Not exactly," he admitted. "This place isn't mine. You were unconscious and I needed somewhere to put you and this cottage was empty so…"

The stranger didn't look as bothered by this as Jared had expected. "Good call," he said with a shrug. "The bed was great."

"Does this mean I'm forgiven for calling you a hooker?" Jared asked hopefully. 

The stranger smiled, pulling the sheet up over his chest. "I guess saving my ass puts you in the clear."

"Do I get an explanation about what I was saving your ass from?" he asked. "I'm kind of hoping you're not wanted for murdering priestesses or setting fire to an orphanage or bludgeoning puppies or something."

"No murder, arson, or puppy bludgeoning," the stranger promised with an easy smile, and Jared was unhelpfully struck by how attractive he was without the dark beard, matted hair, and pesky clothing. "You think you could let me get dressed before you pump me for my life story?"

Jared absolutely did not think about pumping him in any other capacity.

"Sure," he said quickly. "I'll just get my things together." The guy started to turn away when Jared took a step forward and stuck his hand out on impulse. "I'm Jared, by the way."

The guy hesitated for a split-second, seemingly taken aback by Jared's height now that he was up close, but he reached out to shake his hand. "Jensen." That ever-so-attractive smile made a reappearance. "Nice to put a name to the fake husband."

Jared grinned. "Or fake john?" 

He regretted it as soon as he said it. "Not that I think- I mean, you don't-"

Jensen closed the bedroom door in his face.

Jared cleared his throat. "I'll just be out here then."

  


They were on their way through the forest by the time the explanation actually came.

After the visit from the mercenaries, Jensen hadn't wanted to stay in the cottage any longer than necessary. Since Jensen's clothes were crusted with enough dirt that they almost stood up on their own, Jared had loaned him a shirt, a vest and a pair of pants, and Jensen had stolen a small leather pack from the absent owner of the house, which he used to store his meager possessions.

They'd consumed a quick breakfast of bread and water and then set out in the opposite direction to the mercenaries, with both of them on foot and Sadie walking along beside them. Sadie still kept a cautious distance from Jensen but she had stopped trying to eat his nose, which Jared decided was a step in the right direction.

"So should I start guessing?" Jared asked, guiding Sadie around a tree stump. "Were you running away from an evil witch who wanted to use you for a spell? Or maybe a vicious griffin who wanted to eat your eyeballs? Oh, or a troll! I heard trolls are unpleasant."

"You heard?" Jensen looked over, confused. "I thought you were an adventurer. Have you never seen a troll before?"

"Rookie adventurer," Jared said. "I mostly fight badgers and save kittens."

"Nice gig."

"Not the most lucrative," Jared admitted. "Mostly I'm hoping to kill something impressive and be showered with jewels in reward."

Jensen grinned. "Glad to see you're aiming high."

They crossed a stream and began to trek up the hill to where the forest was less thick before Jensen finally gave him an answer. 

"I was running from my fiancé."

Jared blinked. "Did your fiancé happen to be a warlock?"

"No warlocks," Jensen said. "Just a regular, non-magical jerk." At Jared's frown, he explained, "He's a nobleman. A rich one."

Jared filled in the blanks. "Rich enough to hire a band of mercenaries to chase you down. Why does he want you back so badly?"

"Because he's used to getting everything his own way." Jensen kicked a stone along the path as they continued up the slope. "I didn't always spend my time running through forests and crashing into strangers who think I'm a prostitute," he said, glancing over at Jared. "I was an apprentice to a blacksmith."

"Good work if you can get it," Jared said. "What made you trade it in for the exciting forest-running lifestyle?"

"Lord Morgan came to town looking for a spouse." Jensen's voice was tight but he kept his eyes forward as they walked. "He propositioned me, I politely declined, and the next day I found myself tied up in a sack in the back of a cart. Turned out the blacksmith I was working for liked bribes more than he liked my freedom."

Jared winced in sympathy. "This Morgan guy kidnapped you?"

"Technically he had me kidnapped," Jensen said. "I don't think the nobility actually spend their time shoving unconscious blacksmiths in sacks and transporting them halfway across the kingdom."

Jared wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, that seems kind of labor-intensive."

Jensen smiled at that. "What can I say, the guy was just that eager to get in my pants."

Jared tried to ignore the stirrings of nausea in his gut. Somehow Jensen's situation seemed worse the more he thought about it. "Did he…?"

"Fuck me? No." Jensen slid his hands in the pockets of his borrowed pants. "He kept me locked up in a bedroom for a couple of days while he got everything ready for the wedding. When he came to visit me the night before the ceremony, I kicked him in the face, tied him to the bed, and ran."

Jared nodded in approval. That seemed like a good way to deal with dickish kidnappers. "So the dark hair and the giant beard-"

"Were the best disguise I could come up with."

Jared smirked and Jensen shot him a playful glare. "Hey, being on the run is not as easy as it looks, okay? Crappy disguises were the best I could do."

"Why did the mercenaries think you had red hair?" he asked. "And a birthmark. And a limp."

"I faked them as soon as I got to Morgan's castle," Jensen said. "The limp and the birthmark were easy enough and I found some clay-type stuf to color my hair the first night I was there. I knew I wanted to run away and I figured that I could make Morgan's bounty hunters look for the wrong man. "

"Wow," Jared said. "That is an impressive amount of forward-planning."

"I was tied up in a sack for hours," he countered. "What else was I supposed to think about?"

Personally, Jared would've had a much-needed cry but Jensen's way sounded a lot more efficient. "Fair point."

They stayed on the path as it carried them along the slope, rising up out of the forest towards the sparse vegetation further up the hill.

"How about you?" Jensen said. "You heard all my exciting life failures. Tell me yours."

"My exciting life failures?"

"Or exciting life successes," he said. "I'm not picky."

"Not much to tell," Jared admitted, adjusting his grip on Sadie's reins. "I've got a mom, dad, brother, and sister at home. I set out to make my way in the world because my dumbass friend did freakishly well at it, but I think I peaked at the kitten rescue."

"Hey, you helped me out," Jensen said. "That's better than a kitten."

Jared pretended to consider it. "I don't know, man," he said, ruffling Jensen's hair. "You're fluffy and all but I think the kitten's got you beat on cuteness."

"I'm heartbroken," Jensen deadpanned, slapping his hand away. They followed the curve of the path past a cluster of boulders as he asked, "So what's next on the adventuring agenda? Puppies? Baby unicorns?"

"Honestly? I never really plan that far ahead," Jared said, running his fingers through Sadie's mane when she whinnied. "I figured I'd help you get to wherever it is you're going and then take it from there."

Jensen came to an abrupt halt.

"Or not," Jared said, stopping quickly. "I can just leave you to do your own thing. That is totally cool. I definitely did not just rescue you so I could stalk you through the woods."

"You don't know where we're going?" Jensen asked.

Jared frowned. "Not exactly? I mean, I have a map but I was just following you."

"I was following _you_!" Jensen's irritation as he wheeled on him. "You're the adventurer -- you're supposed to have a plan!"

" _You're_ supposed to have a plan!" Jared retorted, facing him head on. "You're the one who said to go this way!"

"I said to go the opposite way to the men who want to abduct me! That was the entirety of my plan," Jensen said, annoyed. "Not getting frogmarched back to a creepy lord was pretty much my only goal here. Well, that and not dying in some forest because my gallant rescuer can't read a damn map."

"I can read a map!" He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. "I just didn't in this instance." 

Jensen let out an exasperated sigh and Jared glared at him. "Hey, I thought you knew where you were headed!"

"Jared, you found me running through the forest wearing a fake beard and looking like something that just crawled out of a swamp. Do you really think I had a great grasp of directio-"

Jensen fell silent.

Jared was ready to continue the argument -- he was very firm in his belief that he couldn't be expected to know where he was going just because he had a map -- but he froze as well at the sudden gust of cool wind against the side of his face.

Clearly the wisest of the three of them, Sadie decided she wasn't hanging around to deal with any suspicious wind and cantered back down the slope at speed.

"Hey!" Jared called after her. "Sadie, come back! Sadie! Sa-"

Jensen hit him on the arm. "Shut up."

"But my-"

Jensen gripped his sleeve and gave it a firm yank. "Shut. Up."

The tug was hard enough to spin Jared around. Caught off balance, he opened his mouth to protest but was left slack-jawed and wordless when he tracked Jensen's gaze to where a pair of dark, scaled claws curled around the top of a boulder. 

He followed the scales up, seeing strong haunches and a solid body before he took in the broad billow of the wings. The dragon bared its teeth, cracking a rock with a lash of its tail, and a gust of wind rolled over him, stronger this time, as the creature flexed its wings.

Its hide was purpling black, dashes of violet rippling through it like light on oil, and Jared could see sparks of fire crackling between its teeth as it stared them down. It was twice his size at the very least, and it was with reluctance born of fear than he reached for the grip of his sword.

"No," Jensen hissed, holding his hands up and inching back. "No weapons. Don't make it mad."

"It has fire in its mouth!" Jared whispered back. "I don't think making it mad is our biggest concern right now!"

As if supporting Jared's theory, the dragon opened its mouth with a snarl and Jared fell back as a curl of flames rose up from between its jaws. The ground shook as it leaped from one boulder to another and Jensen's fingers tangled in his sleeve as they scrambled backward.

"It's okay!" Jensen called. While his reassurance might have worked on a crying baby, Jared wasn't convinced that it was doing much to soothe an angry dragon (or a grown man who was faced with said angry dragon.) "We're not gonna hurt you."

"'We're not gonna hurt you'? What about if it decides it's going to hurt us?"

Jensen didn't take his eyes off the dragon. "I don't see you coming up with a better idea."

"Fleeing," Jared said. As far as solutions to giant, fire-breathing dragons went, that one seemed fairly obvious. "Fleeing is a better idea. Fleeing is an amazing idea."

"Do you really want to try to outrun something twice your size that can fly?"

Obvious solutions weren't always the best. "Okay, no."

In front of them the dragon growled in anger, sending dark plumes of smoke pouring from its nostrils, and Jared's eyes widened when he followed the path of the smoke through the air.

"Fuck."

Jensen saw it a second later, judging by the tremble of his hand on his sleeve when a second dragon rose up from behind the rocks littering the hillside. It was crimson where the other was purple, with a hide that gleamed like it had been painted with blood, and Jared drew his sword from his belt as it approached.

If he was going to die a horrible, dragon-related death, at least he could go down fighting.

Unfortunately, his heroic death was impeded when Jensen stuck out an arm to stop him. "Wait."

Before Jared could question him further, the first dragon let out a roar. Jared stumbled backward under the force of the wind as the dragon swept itself into the air and turned to face the red one.

The red dragon breathed out a small flicker of flames and lashed out, catching the purple dragon across the face with its tail before swooping backwards up the slope. Shaken by the blow, the first dragon recoiled, beating its wings harder to stay aloft, but it soon took off after the other as Jared watched in disbelief. "Wow."

"They're fighting each other," Jensen murmured, walking up the path to track the progress of the battle. 

"Hey, hey, hey," Jared said, running to catch up. "No heading towards giant fire-breathing dragons." He put his hands on Jensen's shoulders and spun him around. "Safety is this way."

Jensen wriggled out of his grip with ease. He headed further up the slope, peering around the boulder up ahead. "I thought I heard something."

"Yeah, that would be the sound of two dragons trying to kill each other," Jared said, wincing at the roars and the noise of cracking rocks coming from up the hill. "That's not a happy sound, Jensen."

Despite Jared's insistent tugging in the opposite direction, Jensen strained to look past the boulder and Jared paused when he said, stunned, "Shit. It wants its baby."

Jared blinked. "Who wants what now?"

Grabbing his arm, Jensen pulled Jared up to peek out past the rock. It was hard to focus on anything except the flashes of fire from the dragons' mouths and the vicious swipes of their tails and claws but he followed Jensen's gaze over to the crack in a cluster of rocks where a tiny purple dragon was curled up alone.

"Oh, man," Jared breathed. "You think the big one is its mom?"

"Or its dad," Jensen said. "I'm not exactly great at determining the sex of giant fire-breathing monsters."

"And what, the red one's trying to steal the baby?" Jared grimaced as a thought occurred. "Or eat the baby. Do dragons eat babies? Is that a thing?"

"Yep," he said. "Babies, turnips and cauldrons are a dragon's favorite foods." Jared was impressed for all of a second before Jensen said sarcastically, "I don't know, Jared. I forgot to research dragon dietary requirements before we left." 

They watched the crimson dragon charge at the purple one again, hitting it hard enough to knock it out of the sky. It fell to earth with a crash, flattening a withered tree, and Jared's chest tightened when he heard the thin cry of the baby over the triumphant roar of the dragon.

The ground shook when the second dragon dropped into a landing and stalked over to the fallen one. Jared didn't know if dragons' faces were built for smiling but from the way the red one bared its teeth, it seemed unpleasantly happy about the situation. 

"We should do something."

Jensen's eyebrows shot up. "Do something like…?"

"Like stopping the big red dragon from killing the other one and eating the baby," Jared said. It seemed easier when he put it like that. "It's a kid, man. We can't just sit here and watch it get chomped to death." Jensen opened his mouth to protest and Jared wheedled, "Please?"

Jensen sighed. "If I die, I'm blaming you."

"I'm okay with that," Jared agreed. He gripped his sword tighter. "So how do we do this?"

Jensen narrowed his eyes, scanning the crimson dragon as it loomed over the purple one, and Jared was again impressed by his observational skills when he said, "The scales look pretty thick over its torso -- I don't think you can get a sword through there without a shitload of force behind it -- so aim for the head. If you can get a swing in, you might be able to take it off at the neck."

Jared nodded. "Get in close, take a swing, chop its head off."

"Yep."

"This is the head that breathes fire and could roast me alive."

"Yep."

"Good," he said with forced lightness. "Glad we're on the same page."

Trying to stop himself from overthinking things, Jared rose to his feet just as the crimson dragon caught the purple one with its claws. The sharp points pierced its dark hide, tearing jagged wounds in its flesh, and the other dragon cried out as blood poured down to stain its talons as red as its scales.

Jared chose that moment to charge forward as fast as he could.

He heard Jensen shout something from behind him but couldn't make out the words as he ran at the crimson dragon with his sword raised. 

His blow landed on its shoulder as the dragon turned to face him. The impact sent vibrations shuddering through his body but Jared's heart dropped when his sword only glanced off the dragon's blood-red hide. 

It roared, loud enough to make stones tumble down the slope with the tremors of it, and Jared barely ducked in time to avoid the hot burst of fire that burst from its mouth. With the fire inches away from his skin, the heat seeped through him and Jared shook his sweat-damp hair out of his face to thrust again with the sword.

As Jensen had predicted, the hide on its body was strong and Jared took a step back when his sword didn't even dent the scales on its chest. The dragon whipped its tail in his direction with a snarl and Jared managed a clumsy leap over it before using his blade to parry a swipe of its claws.

He had just enough time to be surprised by his own dexterity before the dragon's tail swung past again. The hit to his legs was solid enough to knock him hard to the ground and Jared grabbed at nothing when his sword went flying from his hands as he fell. 

"Shit-"

Another breath of fire came a second later and he rolled sideways at the sudden flare of heat against his arm, trying to put out the fire before it reached his skin. 

"Hey!"

With his shirt sleeve now extinguished, Jared looked up in time to see Jensen lob a small rock directly at the dragon's head. It bounced off to land in the dust beside Jared and he took advantage of the opportunity to scramble backwards when Jensen threw another and another and another.

"Hey!" Jensen yelled again, moving towards the crack in the rocks where the baby was hidden. "Come get me, asshole."

Jared didn't think he'd even been so happy about stupidity than when he saw the crimson dragon move towards Jensen. Its scales seemed to ripple as it moved, its whole body brimming with coiled strength, and Jared pulled himself to his feet to retrieve his sword as Jensen lured it away.

The dragon kept advancing, wings beating at its back in anger, and Jared followed behind it, sword in hand. He raised it above his head, ready to bring it down on the dragon's neck, but froze when the dragon spun around at the last second to catch him square on the side with the hard ridge of its wing. 

Knocked back against a scorched tree stump, Jared could only watch as the dragon's tail slammed into Jensen's body when it turned, sending him flying across the clearing to land hard on the ground. Jensen slumped in the dust, gasping and winded, and Jared gulped when the dragon shifted its attention back to him.

The air was hot against his face and Jared could smell the sulfur on its breath as the dragon loomed over him, trapping him in against the rocks with a furious growl. Its milky white eyes stood out in the bloody red slant of its face but Jared could hardly look away from the gaping maw of its mouth and the sharp lines of teeth that were lit from behind by fire.

With a primary goal of not having his skin burned off in a horrific fireball of pain, Jared shielded his face as much as he could as he blindly brought the blade up toward the dragon's head.

It slid past its teeth, piercing the weak roof of its mouth and driving upward through its skull. Unable to believe that his hands were the ones on the sword, Jared pushed hard, thrusting the blade through flesh and bone and brain until he saw the fiery embers on its tongue flicker and die around the metal of the sword. 

The dragon's outraged bellow was silenced by steel and, still stunned by his victory, Jared failed to move out of the way in time as it collapsed on top of him, impaled firmly on Jared's sword.

"Holy shit," Jared croaked, suffocating under the weight of the huge scaly body that was now covering his. "I just killed a dragon."

Peeking out past the giant red body on top of him, Jared didn't miss the way Jensen was holding his ribs as he dragged himself to his feet. Despite the injury, Jensen's smile was sincere as he made his way around the motionless length of the dragon's tail. 

"A bloodthirsty, baby-stealing dragon, no less," Jensen said, tilting his head as he looked down at him. "Good job."

Torn between crying and passing out, Jared instead opted to just keep breathing as he helped Jensen roll the dragon's body to the side. Blood painted Jared's sword, dripping dark red off the blade as he withdrew it from the dragon's skull, and he took a second to remind himself that he'd actually been the one to inflict that injury. 

He'd officially progressed past badgers in the monster-slaying leagues.

Jensen rested a hand on his shoulder as Jared pulled himself up, still overwhelmed by his success. "You okay, champ?"

Jared nodded dumbly.

"Can I get that answer in words?"

"Yeah," Jared said, licking his dry lips and thinking again how glad he was to have a face that wasn't melting away from his skull. "I'm okay."

He lifted his head obediently when Jensen caught his chin and he managed a smile as Jensen looked him over. "I'm fine, mom."

"Shut up," Jensen said, releasing his chin and giving him a light pat on the cheek. "I'm just checking you didn't end up with brain damage. I don't want to have to carry your ass out of here." He stepped back, looking between the purple dragon and the baby. "You get the kid, I'll check on the parent."

Jared wasn't about to protest at that distribution of work. He sheathed his sword and tried to look as non-threatening as possible as he headed over to retrieve the tiny dragon from the rock.

"Hey there," he said softly, scooping it up in both hands. "Let's get you back home, huh?"

The dragon was about the size of a human baby. It was warm against Jared's hands as it squirmed in his hold but it soon settled down to lie back along his arm, babbling to itself between smoky hiccups. 

"That's it," Jared murmured, tickling the light purple scales on its belly. "Who's a good dragon?"

He was in the middle of stroking the soft patch under the baby's chin when he jumped at a roar from the purple dragon. It was injured -- Jared could see the glitter of blood running over its scales from where the crimson dragon had attacked it -- but that didn't seem to get in the way of its protective instincts. 

It lashed out at Jensen, gouging deep into his thigh with its clawed foot, and Jared held the baby tighter in shock.

In hindsight, picking up the child of an injured, defensive dragon didn't seem like the best decision he'd ever made.

"Hey, it's okay!" he called. Jensen scramble backward with a hand pressed to his bleeding leg and Jared held his hands up, offering the baby to its parent. "We're giving it back to you. The baby's all yours."

The dragon's tail whipped against the ground and Jared hurriedly put the baby down when he saw it spread its wings, presumably preparing to launch itself at Jared.

"Take it easy," he said, hands raised. "We're not gonna hurt you."

He held his breath as the miniature dragon steadied itself on its stumpy little legs before barreling forward towards its parent. It crashed into its leg with a thump but pressed itself up against its foot, tiny arms flailing in what seemed like its best attempt at a hug. 

Jensen inched back further when the dragon ducked its head but Jared breathed out when it only nuzzled its nose against the baby, who let out a happy chirp in response.

The dragon's jaws closed around the kid, lifting it up off the ground and depositing it on its back in the dip above its wings. The baby babbled again, evidently happier now that it could nestle in against its parent's body, but Jared flinched when the adult dragon spread its wings and launched itself into the air.

He sagged back against a rock when the dragon took off skywards instead of diving in to rip out Jared's heart. It swooped around the side of the hill in a graceful arc and disappeared out of sight, leaving Jared alone with a dead dragon and an injured companion.

Apparently sensing the coast was clear, Sadie came trotting back up the slope and Jared rolled his eyes as he stroked her nose. "Gee, thanks for the help," he muttered. "It's not like I could've used a faithful steed while I was fighting a dragon or anything."

Sadie decided that she didn't enjoy being scolded and so wandered over to nibble on some nearby grass instead.

Letting her go, Jared jogged over to where Jensen was propped up against a rock. 

His face was pale but he mustered a smile as Jared approached. "I changed my mind," he said. "Next time you can try to help the big angry dragon while I play with the baby."

Crouching down beside him, Jared winced when he got a look at the gashes running across Jensen's thigh. They were jagged and bleeding heavily, judging by the amount of blood that had soaked into Jensen's pants, but from Jared's limited experience of wounds, he didn't think they were deep enough for him to bleed out.

"Hold on," he said, running over to grab some gauze from Sadie's saddlebag. "How bad does it hurt?"

"About as much as a dragon ripping your thigh open with its talons," Jensen said through gritted his teeth. "Fuck."

"I'm going to have to cut your leg off," Jared said, kneeling down and pulling out a dagger.

Jensen stared at him. "No, you're not."

"Not your _leg_ leg," Jared said, exasperated. "The leg of your pants."

He tugged at the bloodstained material and Jensen raised his eyebrows. "And you couldn't have just said that?"

"I didn't think you were dumb enough to believe I would cut off your actual leg," Jared said, sliding the dagger under the material and starting to slice around Jensen's thigh. 

"You got us involved in a dragon fight," Jensen pointed out. "I'm not underestimating your stupidity."

"Hey, we won the dragon fight." He wiped the blade down and tucked the dagger away again. "And with minimal injuries."

Jensen looked down at his blood-covered leg. "You have a really interesting definition of minimal."

Easing the shredded material over Jensen's wounds, Jared pulled it down and off his leg, taking Jensen's boot with it. "We're still alive."

"Barely."

Jared waved it away. "You're conscious."

"So if I passed out in pain, that would be better?" Jensen muttered, snatching the gauze out of Jared's hands to finish bandaging his thigh. 

Jared wondered if it made him a bad person to stare at the bulge between Jensen's thighs while he did so.

Deciding that yes, it probably did, he focused on Jensen's face instead as he said with a grin, "We just defeated a dragon, dude. That was awesome."

"You know, adventurers don't usually get so stoked when they kill something," Jensen said. "They generally take the calm and professional approach to things."

"Fuck that," Jared said, unable to contain his delight as he got to his feet. "A dragon! I beat a dragon!"

" _You_ beat a dragon, huh?"

"We," Jared amended. "We beat a dragon. You saving me from getting my face burnt off definitely makes it a team effort." He shifted from foot to foot, bursting with giddy excitement. "We make an awesome team."

"Oh, we're a team now? Maybe you'd like to have a couple of gouges in your thigh then," Jensen said with faked enthusiasm. "Y'know, to even things up. Since we're a team and all."

Despite his words, there was a smile on Jensen's face and Jared found it very hard to resist the urge to steal a celebratory kiss. 

Making out seemed like a logical conclusion to successful dragon-slaying.

"All right, champ," Jensen said, holding his arms out. "Help me up. I'll get out of your hair once we get to the nearest town."

Jared's smile faded. "Oh. Yeah," he said quickly. "Sure. Obviously. I can drop you somewhere and go back to being a lone wolf. That's cool."

"You sure about that?" Jensen asked. "Because right now it sounds like you're thinking about kidnapping me and keeping me hostage."

Jared briefly considered the logistics of kidnapping a colleague before shaking his head. "What? No. That's crazy-talk. I'll get you to a village and we can go our separate ways and live happily ever after. Separately. In completely different towns."

Jensen gave a put-upon sigh. "Man, you help a guy defeat one dragon and he's already picking out curtains…" 

Jared bit his lip guiltily but Jensen looked up at him with a smile. "Help me up, asshole."

Jared did, catching him by the wrists and hauling him up to balance on his good leg. It was a two-person job to get him sitting astride Sadie's back with the bandages still in place around his thigh and Jensen looked down uncertainly when Sadie trotted around in a circle.

"I don't think your horse likes me."

Sadie gave a whinny of agreement. 

Jared patted her on the nose and lied, "Don't be ridiculous. She loves you."

He received a matching look of skepticism from both Jensen and Sadie and opted to change the subject as he pulled out his map. "It looks like there's a town in the valley beyond this hill. It can't be more than a few hours walk."

"Sounds good," Jensen said, taking Sadie's reins and steering her forward as Jared fell into step beside them. "You never know, you might get sick of me by the time we get there."

"I might," Jared said, more out of politeness than agreement.

"I can start being a dick now if you think it'll help?" Jensen offered, guiding Sadie past the body of the dragon and further up the slope. "You're unreasonably tall and you have impractical hair."

He didn't think it was a good sign that being a dick only made Jared like him more.

  


The sun was riding low in the sky by the time they made it down into the valley to Parin.

Despite his hopes to the contrary, Jared had not developed a deep and vicious hatred for Jensen on their journey out of the forest. Unfortunately, he'd found himself growing more and more fond of Jensen as they talked about everything from their childhood fears to what food they most wanted to eat when they got to the village. 

Jensen was still kind of a dick but he was amusing and mostly good-natured, and after traveling alone for two months, Jared couldn't help but enjoy the brief companionship.

Parin was pretty small as far as villages went. It was nestled on the valley floor, spread out along one side of the river with some of the newer-looking houses inching up the base of the mountains beyond. Despite its small size, it seemed well-populated and as Jared, Jensen and Sadie passed the painted welcome sign (complete with cheerful flowers), Jared hoped the tavern would be open.

Now that his dragon-slaying high had worn off, he really, really wanted a drink.

If the number of houses didn't give it away, the smallness of the town hit him again as soon as they crossed the village threshold and were greeted by a dozen pairs of eyes. Even with the evening drawing in, the square was full of people, all of whom looked wary of the strangers who had just wandered into their town.

Jared waved awkwardly. "Hi."

He dropped his hand back down when a woman stepped forward. She was redheaded, gorgeous, and apparently the designated village spokesperson, given that she was the first of them to speak. "Did you come from the mountain road?"

Parin clearly favored bluntness in their spokespeople.

Wondering if maybe the big hill counted as a mountain, he pointed back down the valley and answered, "Yes? We took the road through those hills."

There were hushed murmurs among the villagers. Jared really hoped they were whispering about the road and/or their definition of a mountain, not about whether they should cook and eat him.

The redhead's gaze jumped from Jensen's injured thigh to the singed hole in the sleeve of Jared's shirt. "You're wounded."

"Yeah, about that," he said, "is there somewhere here we could get some food and spend the night? I can pay you for everything but we could use some decent thread too -- my friend needs stitches."

The woman walked nearer and Jensen moved his bandages to let her take a look at the slices across his thigh. The bleeding had stopped but the wounds were still open and raw enough to make her grimace. "That looks nasty. What happened to you two?"

Jared couldn't keep the pride from his voice. "Killed a dragon." The woman's eyes widened but Jared continued with a shrug, "What can I say, it's dangerous work."

His suave demeanor was somewhat ruined by the way he jumped in surprise when the woman put her hand on his chest and asked urgently, "You killed the dragon on the mountain road?"

It was hard to tell whether she was happy or angry at the prospect so Jared opted for the plain truth. "The big red one? Yep."

"Oh my god."

Jared let out a squawk when the woman suddenly lunged toward him face first. However, the only contact was her lips against his and Jared's cheeks heated at the realization that it was just a kiss.

It only lasted a second, more an expression of delight rather than undying love, and Jared blinked, baffled, when a smattering of applause and cheers broke out across the square. 

He wasn't totally sure how he'd gone from being lost in the woods to slaying a dragon, getting kissed by a beautiful woman, and being lauded by a whole town, but he definitely wasn't complaining.

"You killed it," the woman said, looking up at Jared in amazement. "That dragon's been blocking the road for weeks. No-one's been able to stop it."

"We heard," Jensen said.

Jared looked up at him, confused, but Jensen ignored him. "I'm glad we could help you out, miss. We figured we'd stop by and see if those rumors about a reward were true."

Jared frowned. "A rew-"

Jensen kicked him in the side. 

Scowling up at him, Jared followed Jensen's nod over to where a sheet of parchment was nailed to a wall. He wasn't close enough to read the fine print but he could make out a messy picture of a red dragon and 'REWARD' printed in big letters beneath it. That seemed like an excellent combination.

"Obviously," Jared said, less smoothly than Jensen had. "We came looking for food, shelter, thread, and a possible reward."

"Oh, of course," the woman said, leading Jared forward while Jensen watched from his perch atop Sadie. "I'm sorry it isn't much -- dragon-slayers like you guys must be used to bigger rewards -- but we're so grateful it's gone."

The throng of villagers grew larger as the woman led him across the square and Jared grinned at the pats on the back and the jumble of congratulations that were thrown his way. Gratitude was a pretty awesome reward all on its own.

"Here you go," the woman said, holding her hand out as two men carried over a small chest. "Thank you, Lord…?"

"Jared," he said quickly. "No Lord."

The woman smiled at him. "Well, thank you, Jared." She held out her hand. "I'm Danneel."

Struggling to believe that this was actually happening to him, Jared took her hand. He was midway through shaking it when he remembered his manners and hurriedly bent his head to kiss it instead. "Pleased to meet you." 

He glanced back to where Jensen was watching with a smirk on his lips. "That's my, uh, colleague. Jensen."

"You have our gratitude, Jensen," a man chimed in, reaching up to help Jensen down off Sadie's back. He was tall and handsome and had really great arms and Jared tried to ignore the sudden pulse of jealousy at the intrigued expression that crossed Jensen's face when he took the man's hand.

Resolutely not thinking about Jensen being carried away by the handsome guy with the great arms, Jared looked down as the chest was deposited at his feet.

The chest opened with a clunk and Jared completely failed to stop his mouth falling open at the same time.

"This is the reward?"

Danneel looked apologetic. "Like I said, we're really sorry it's not more."

Jared managed to contain the snort of disbelief which threatened to burst forth and ruin his reputation entirely. "No, no, this is fine," he said quickly. "It's more than fine. Are you guys sure you-"

"We're sure," said the man who currently had an arm wrapped around Jensen to hold him up. "You earned this."

"We sure did," Jensen agreed, flashing Jared a wolfish grin. 

Jared didn't know how he could be so calm -- there were more coins and jewels in that box than Jared had seen in his entire life -- but he was glad Jensen was there to help one. One of them should be able to form coherent sentences.

"Thank you for the kind welcome, folks," Jensen said, loud enough to be heard above the crowd. "I need to go get myself sewn up but Jared here would be more than happy to buy you all a drink as thanks for your gracious hospitality."

That drew more cheers from the throng of villagers. With the chest in his arms, Jared let himself be shepherded through the square towards a tavern.

(Its sign bore a painting of a smiling purple dragon and Jared breathed a quiet sigh of relief that they'd managed to save the friendly one.)

People were talking at him from all angles as they led him inside but Jared tuned out the voice of an old man to his left while he looked back for Jensen. He was pressed up close to the handsome guy, leaning on him for support as they spoke quietly between themselves, and Jared tried not to feel so bitter when the guy helped Jensen limp across to another house.

Even though sewing Jensen's leg up was a much more likely explanation than a quick fuck on the guy's kitchen table, Jared couldn't help but be disappointed that he didn't have Jensen at his side when the villagers raised a toast in his honor.

"To the Dragon-Slayer!" Danneel called, easing a mug of ale into Jared's hands and knocking her own against it. 

The rest of the tavern took up the shout. Jared pried his mind away from Jensen long enough to bask in the praise as he joined them in downing his ale. His mug was refilled a second later and he settled back on a barstool with a satisfied groan as Danneel made herself comfortable at his side. 

Her dress was practical but well-fitted, lacing up tight under her bust, and Jared failed to keep his eyes from dipping down to her cleavage as she leaned in with a bright smile on her lips. "So do I get a blow-by-blow?"

Jared's mind went to inappropriate places. "You get to blow what?"

Danneel wisely chose to ignore the inappropriateness of that question. "I wanna hear how you took down that dragon," she said, looking up at him expectantly."Y'know, all the heroic details."

Jared wasn't about to say no to a request like that.

As he settled in to give her a full recap of his daring deeds, he couldn't quite get over the fact that this was really happening to him. He'd woken up in a borrowed cottage with a stranger in the bed and mercenaries at the door and now he'd gained a temporary traveling companion, slain a dragon, rescued a baby, won a ridiculous reward from grateful villagers, and was deep in conversation with an unfairly attractive woman.

He wondered if Jensen was secretly a good luck fairy. It could happen.

  


"Are you a fairy?"

Jensen took a swig of ale. "Go fuck yourself."

Jared grinned. "That's not a no."

The fire flickered in front of him and the mouth-watering smell of the hog roast lingered in the square as Jared dropped down to a seat beside Jensen. 

The evening had been long and jubilant, filled with food, drink and celebration, all in their honor. According to Danneel, the dragon had been blocking their road for weeks, scaring off merchants and visitors and slaughtering anyone who tried to move it, so Jared and Jensen's success in dispatching it had merited a party.

Judging by the way the world wobbled around him when he sat down, Jared might've had a few too many mugs of ale but that did nothing to dampen his spirits. Jensen was sprawled out next to him, his back resting against a bench and his leg outstretched to protect the neat stitches that held his wounds together, and Jared slung an arm around his shoulders. "Hi." 

"Is there a reason you think I'm a fairy?" Jensen asked. He leaned into Jared a little but kept his gaze fixed on the dying flames. "Or do I just look extra sparkly today?"

"You're very pretty," Jared said as seriously as he could through the fog of ale. "It might be magic."

Jensen frowned. "What kind of lazy-ass fairy casts a spell on his own face?"

Jared poked him in the shoulder. "You tell me."

That got a smile out of Jensen. His eyes glittered in the firelight as he looked up at him and teased, "Yep, you caught me. I'm secretly a sprite. I just masquerade as a runaway blacksmith for the fun of it."

"I knew it," Jared said, folding his hands behind his head. "I figured you were a good luck fairy though."

"A good luck fairy?" Jensen propped his knee up and gestured to his injured thigh. "You have a weird definition of luck."

"I meant lucky for _me_."

"Oh, well, that's a relief," Jensen said sarcastically. "I'm so glad my life finally has meaning. How am I lucky for you?"

"Did you miss the giant party in our honor?" Jared knocked his shoulder against Jensen's. "No-one threw giant parties in my honor before today."

"And blaming me is obviously the logical conclusion."

Jared grinned. "I'm so glad you're seeing it my way."

Jensen chuckled and flicked a stray leaf onto the fire. "Sorry to disappoint but there's no magic in play here. Guess you're just finally getting your big break."

"Big is the word," Jared said. "Did you see that reward? Holy shit."

"I'm staking my claim on half of that, by the way," Jensen said. "Call it reparations for all the trauma I suffered listening to you talk about your teenage hairstyles."

"Yeah, of course," Jared said, kind of insulted that Jensen thought he wouldn't give him his share. "You don't need to ask, dude." He stretched his arms over his head and looked up to the stars. "You gotta admit we made a good team though."

Jensen glanced over at him. "Please tell me you're not getting sentimental already. I don't think you can reminisce when we've only known each other a day."

"It was a very busy day," Jared countered. He took another gulp of ale and looked down into his mug as he asked, "Did you have fun with that guy?"

He felt Jensen's eyes on him but kept swirling his ale in his mug as Jensen asked, amused, "Who, Aldis?"

Jared shrugged. "I saw you two disappear off together."

"He was stitching me up, jackass." Jensen elbowed him in the side. "What, you think I head straight for the bedroom every time I meet a good-looking guy?"

Jared decided not to mention his kitchen-table sex theory. "No!" he said, a little too loudly. "I, uh. You don't-"

"Dick," Jensen muttered. "Although I guess it's a step up from you calling me a hooker."

"Is there a step down from me calling you a hooker?" Jared asked, foolishly pleased by the confirmation that Jensen hadn't spent his evening getting fucked by a tall, handsome guy who wasn't Jared. 

Jensen furrowed his brow. "Maybe a cheap hooker. Oh, or a troll hooker."

"Is that a hooker who is a troll or a hooker who has sex with trolls?"

"Either," Jensen said with a yawn. "Both. Any combination of trolls and prostitutes is bad." His head came to rest on Jared's shoulder as he asked, "Moving on to topics which don't include trolls or prostitutes, how'd it go with you and Danneel? Did she hear about your teenage braids and go running for the hills?"

"Hilarious," Jared said, wrapping his arm around Jensen's shoulders again. 

Danneel had been great -- funny, sarcastic, and well on her way to drinking Jared under the table -- but Jared hadn't been able to tear his thoughts away from Jensen all evening. It was simultaneously the best and worst problem to have.

He opted not to share this information with Jensen and instead settled on a suitably vague explanation, "Danneel was great. Just not what I was looking for, I guess."

Jensen laughed and rested his head against Jared's arm as he looked up at the stars. "Subtle."

Since Jared had thought he was operating at the top of his subtlety game, getting called out came as a surprise. 

He decided to feign innocence. "Huh?"

"Come on, man," Jensen said fondly. "We both know you're going to start hitting on me any second now."

Jared froze. "What? No. No!" He faked a laugh. It was not wildly successful. "Why would I be hitting on you?"

Jensen turned his head to look at him. The light from the fire settled against his skin like silk, casting shadows from his eyelashes on his cheeks and inadvertently providing a very compelling reason as to why someone would hit on him.

"Don't tell me I'm supposed to play dumb," Jensen said. "I got kidnapped by a guy who wanted to marry me, Jared. I've gotten pretty good at knowing when people want to get in my pants."

"You think I'm going to kidnap you to get in your pants?"

"I had you down as more likely to buy me a drink to get in my pants," Jensen admitted. "If kidnapping is your thing, I'm going to need to radically revise my opinion of you."

"Kidnapping is not my thing," Jared promised.

"Then my opinion remains unrevised." 

His accompanying nod was short and endearingly unsteady, indicating someone had bought him plenty of drinks already, but he seemed happy to stay tucked up beside him as Jared tried to formulate a response. 

When he'd run through this scenario in his head, it mostly involved himself suddenly confessing that he was into Jensen. Jensen was then appropriately taken aback for all of five seconds before realizing that he was into Jared too, and then there was kissing and groping and lots of very detailed sexual escapades. 

Jensen making the first move was not part of the plan. 

Jensen making the first move so casually that Jared wasn't sure if it even counted as a move was _definitely_ not part of the plan.

Plans in general were way beyond Jared's capabilities at this point.

"So about getting into your pants…"

"I think it's a bad idea," Jensen said, smoothly and efficiently crushing Jared's burgeoning hopes.

Jared swallowed past the lump in his throat. "Bad idea. Yeah."

The sympathetic expression on Jensen's face was almost worse than the rejection. (Almost. Rejection still sucked ass.) "I'm sorry, man. I'm not trying to be a dick here -- I just don't wanna start something that's going to end badly."

"It doesn't have to end badly," Jared said hopefully. "Today was okay, right?"

"Today was fine," Jensen said, "but you don't strike me as the kind of guy who's into one-night-stands."

Jared ducked his head to hide his reddened cheeks. His romantic past hadn't exactly been stellar -- he'd had one serious girlfriend in his teens and then a handful of boyfriends over the years, all of whom had held different views to Jared about the seriousness of their relationship. Each time, Jared had wondered if he'd gotten too attached too quickly but learning from his mistakes had not been as easy as his mom had led him to believe.

Absorbed in his memories, Jared blinked back to reality to find Jensen eyeing him with suspicion. "You're not picking out baby names right now, are you?"

"Nope," Jared said with false confidence. "Just thinking how totally on board I am with a one-night-stand."

Jensen sighed as he reached up to fix Jared's bangs into what was presumably a neater arrangement. "I'm still a stranger, dude. It's been what, a day?"

"And you were asleep or unconscious for half of that."

"Right," Jensen said. "You're the type of guy who likes flowers and romance and deep, meaningful relationships. You don't want a drunk hook-up with some guy you're leaving behind tomorrow." He looked at him sadly. "You don't know me, Jared."

"I do know you," Jared said. Jensen's estimations weren't far wrong -- he was definitely a romantic kind of guy -- but that didn't mean he couldn't be tenacious when he wanted to be. Especially when he had a fair amount of ale inside him and a guy like Jensen in front of him. "Parts of you, at least. I know your mom used to make you pigeon pie when you were a kid and I know you're a terrible cook now."

Jensen turned back to look at the fire but Jared was pleased to see the smile on his lips.

"I know how much you hate the guy who handed you over to Morgan," he said quietly, watching the way Jensen's expression darkened at the memory. "I know you'd probably kill him if you ever saw him again."

"I guess you were listening, after all," he said with strained levity. "I thought you'd zoned out sometime when we were coming down into the valley."

"Nope," Jared said, pulling him in close. "I remember every word." He smiled. "And every non-word too, I guess. Like how I know you could probably make a decent living as a pickpocket judging by how sneakily you lifted the map from my pants."

Jensen laughed at that, surprised and amused, and leaned to rest his head against Jared's shoulder. "Can't be that good if you noticed."

Jared rested his cheek against Jensen's head as they shifted closer together in front of the fire. "I know you're down with throwing rocks at dragons and faking marriage to avoid mercenaries. I know you like singing and horse-riding and pancakes." He took a breath, embarrassed by the flutter in his chest. "And I don't know this for sure, but I think you might like me too."

Jensen's eyes were bright with firelight as he looked up at him. He was painfully close, near enough for Jared to lean in and let their lips touch, but he held back, watching for a sign one way or another.

"Fuck it," Jensen muttered, and kissed him.

As close as they were, the sudden crush of Jensen's lips against his own took Jared by surprise. He'd expected some level of timidity -- Jensen was on the run from an apparently grabby fiancé, after all -- but couldn't come up with any complaints when Jensen threaded his hand through his hair, controlling the slow slide of the kiss. He gave a gentle tug, tilting Jared's head into the touch, and Jared let himself be led by the easy press of lips and fingers.

The fading fire was warm against his cheek but balanced by the heat of Jensen's palm against his other as he held him close. Jensen's touches were practiced and confident as he slanted his mouth against Jared's and kissed deeply, and Jared felt the last barrier of his inhibitions ebb away when his hand came to rest on Jensen's hips. His lips parted, sharp and sweet from the ale, and Jared pressed him back against the bench as his tongue brushed Jensen's.

If there were any villagers still around, Jared couldn't hear them as he kissed Jensen harder and deeper. Breaking away, he ducked his head to kiss his way down below the line of Jensen's jaw and laved his tongue over the skin to feel the shiver of Jensen's breath in his throat.

"Fuck…" Jensen whispered, pulling back enough to meet Jared's eyes. "This is such a bad idea."

It was really hard to agree with that sentiment when all Jared could focus on was the slick shine of Jensen's lips from where he'd been kissed. His hands were almost shaking with how badly he wanted to touch him but he held back long enough to ask honestly, "You want me to stop?"

Jensen shook his head and pulled him in for another kiss.

It was a struggle not to overbalance and Jared rose up onto his knees as he caught Jensen's lips in a messy kiss. Jensen let out a moan, tipping his head back into the touch as Jared knelt over him, and Jared nipped at his bottom lip, relishing the momentary control.

The fire pit in the town square hadn't been designed for making out, especially when one of the participants had a wounded leg, and Jared broke away to keep his balance and to ask, breathless, "You wanna take this inside?"

Jensen nodded. "I don't think the triumphant hero usually gets laid in the village square," he said with a grin. "Kinda gives the wrong impression." He held his arm up as Jared got to his feet. "Help me out here."

Jared blamed the ale for how much he underestimated his own strength when he hauled Jensen up off the ground with a little too much force. Jensen toppled forward, catching himself on Jared's upper arms, and since his lips were helpfully right there, Jared didn't bother resisting the urge to kiss him again. 

Bringing his hands up to cup Jensen's face, he let his tongue slide against Jensen's as he walked him backwards to the tavern. Jensen stumbled, limping on his injured leg, and Jared reached down to fit his hands under his ass. Taking the hint, Jensen wrapped his legs around Jared's hips and Jared let out a pleased little moan against his lips while they made their way inside the tavern to their room.

It wasn't easy, especially with the amount of ale they'd both consumed, but when they collapsed on the bed, Jared was relieved to find that neither of them had any further injuries. 

Jensen knelt astride him and went to work unbuttoning his shirt as he nipped at Jared's earlobe. The shirt slipped his shoulders and Jared smoothed his hand over the curve of his ribs, wanting to map out every inch of him while he could. However, he paused as he slid his hand down Jensen's spine, feeling a ridged patch of skin under his palm, and he craned his neck to get a look at Jensen's back.

"What're you-"

The moonlight glinted off the skin, bright enough to suggest the shine of scar tissue, but Jensen rolled his shoulders to shake Jared's hand off before he could feel anymore.

"It's a burn," Jensen said, short and business-like. "I slipped in some water at work and fell on the blacksmith's irons."

Jared cringed but Jensen waved it away as he ground down and murmured, "It's old. Stop petting it and kiss me."

Ever obedient, Jared kissed the column of Jensen's neck in compliance and ran his fingers through the short hair at the base of Jensen's skull as he teased, "Hey, I know sex in the town square is out but the triumphant hero carrying the damsel in distress back to his room is totally acceptable, right?"

Jensen's teeth were sharp against his neck but Jared couldn't hide his smile. "Ow. Are you a vampire now or something?"

"Yep," Jensen said, pulling him in for another kiss. "Better than a damsel in distress." He paused long enough to land a half-hearted punch to Jared's arm before kissing him some more. Jared's dick was very confused. "You would've been dragon snacks if it wasn't for me. Damsel in distress my ass."

Jared was tipsy enough that Jensen's grumpiness was mostly just endearing.

"I'm sorry," he said obediently, running his thumb over Jensen's nipple as he stripped his shirt off. "You're not a damsel in distress." Jensen's fingers went to the buttons of his pants and Jared smiled at the sight of the bulge in the fabric. "One hundred per cent not a damsel."

"Damn straight," Jensen said. "Now take your clothes off."

He'd pulled his burned shirt up and over his head before Jared could form a response. It snagged on his elbows and Jensen rolled off onto the bed as Jared fumbled to free himself from the material. His removal of his pants, boots, and underwear (in that order) was equally smooth but when the reward was a very naked Jensen waiting for him on the sheets, he couldn't bring himself to care that much about dignity.

Outside, the few inebriated stragglers were singing something that only bore a passing resemblance to a song and Jensen smiled as Jared climbed over to kiss him some more. "I guess you got some romance, after all."

Jared laughed, reaching down to stroke his dick as he nuzzled up against Jensen's neck. "Moonlight, music, what more could you want?"

Judging by the hand in his hair and the press of Jensen's mouth along his jaw, the answer was 'your face'.

Always willing to oblige, Jared settled over him and propped himself up on his elbow as he caught his mouth and traced his tongue along the line of Jensen's lips. Cautious of Jensen's wounds, he planted his knees either side of his uninjured thigh and ground down lazily. His dick rubbed up along the dip of Jensen's pelvis then against the hot length of his cock and he groaned happily at the contact.

Jensen's cheeks were pale in the moonlight as he dropped his head back to the pillows and rolled his hips up to let their dicks grind together. The friction was the wrong side of painful and both of them reached down with spit-slicked palms to ease the slide. Their fingers brushed, Jensen's hand cool against Jared's, and Jared couldn't stop the words that came spilling from his lips, "You're amazing."

Jensen's eyes widened in confusion before he relaxed into a smile. "Uh-huh. And you're drunk."

Apparently finished with the conversation, he slicked his palm again and reached down to bracket both their dicks in the loose circle of his hand. Jared bit his lip at the improved friction and gave a shallow thrust in as he mumbled, "I mean it."

"Don't tell me this is the 'I love you' conversation," Jensen said, pushing his hips up and sliding his dick through the ring of his fingers. "C'mon, man, you're not drunk enough or dumb enough for that."

"No, no," Jared promised, "I just-" It was hard to find the right words. He'd been content with the idea of being an intrepid do-gooder, out on his own in the wilderness, fighting monsters and writing wrongs, but having someone as a partner, especially someone like Jensen, had been better than he'd ever imagined.

"I like you," he said eventually, kissing Jensen again by way of an apology for his terrible explanation. "You're awesome."

Jensen eyed him skeptically, as though Jared had just shown up with a band of minstrels and a wedding ring, but returned the kiss anyway. 

"You're awesome too," he murmured against Jared's lips. 

He seemed more focused on the grind of their hips, however, and Jared was grateful for the opportunity to draw a curtain over his randomly sentimental outbursts and get back to enjoying the feeling of Jensen's dick against his own. Jensen rolled his hips up, faster and steadier than Jared expected, and he did his best to match him as he thrust more quickly into Jensen's grip.

Jensen's body was firm beneath his, lithe and warm and strong, and Jared dropped his head to kiss the sweat off his collarbone as he slid his dick along the length of Jensen's. Jensen's pulse fluttered under the delicate skin of his throat and Jared felt the vibrations when Jensen let out a quiet moan of pleasure.

"More," Jensen gasped, tugging him up until they were eye to eye. "Faster."

Smiling against his skin, Jared planted his knees firmly on the bed to let him cant his hips forward faster into Jensen's hand. Jensen moaned again, spreading his legs and pushing up as their dicks rubbed together, and Jared left a messy kiss on his lips as he kept up the speed.

Even with the nighttime breeze ghosting over him, Jared felt heat glow through him, warming him from his lips to the heavy length of his dick to the soles of his bare feet. Jensen was hot against him, made hotter by his needy grinding against Jared's dick, and Jared pulled in a breath of cool air as he focused on the tightness of Jensen's hand around his dick and the friction of their cocks sliding together. 

The way was slicked with spit and pre-come now and Jared couldn't keep his dick from twitching when Jensen opened his mouth in a breathless 'o' as he shuddered beneath him. His mind threatened to slip away to fantasies of that mouth wrapped around his dick but Jared ground down harder, staying in the here and now as he kissed Jensen again. "You with me?"

Jensen nodded, grabbing Jared's upper arm with his free hand and failing to stifle a groan. "Fuck, I'm close…"

Jared grinned, feeling his own orgasm building bit by bit. "Whenever you're ready…"

Jensen smiled and lifted his hand to give Jared's hair a playful tug. "Shut up."

He used his grip on his hair to pull him down and licked inside his mouth with unabashed greed as Jared kept moving against him. Jared responded as much as he could, split between the stimulation to his dick and to his lips, but he let himself get swept along in the rush when Jensen tilted his head back with a cry.

Jensen came hard, arching up against Jared as his body tensed through the release. Come splashed against Jared's stomach, dripping wetly down his dick as he rutted forward, pushing on to his own completion. Jensen gasped against him, deep enough that Jared could feel his chest heaving with every breath, and he broke away from the sloppy kiss to bury his head in the crook of Jensen's shoulder as his orgasm rolled through him.

He was distantly aware he was probably crushing Jensen but he couldn't do much more than keep breathing as he spilled over Jensen's hand, moans slipping out over the column of Jensen's throat. He slumped over him, blanketing his body, and he offered an apologetic kiss to Jensen's shoulder as he floated back down from the high of his release.

Jared opened his eyes at the intake of breath that accompanied Jensen's yawn and he used the last of his energy to prop himself up on his elbow again.

Jensen wiped his hand on the sheet and blinked up at him sleepily. "You good?"

"Yeah." Jared couldn't keep the dopey smile off his face. "Yeah, I'm great."

Jensen smiled and patted him on the chest. "Off, dude. Some of us like breathing after sex."

"Shit." Jared rolled off quickly to land on his side on the bed. "Sorry." He glanced down to Jensen's leg. "Did I hurt you?"

Jensen rolled his eyes as he wiped his stomach down with Jared's ruined shirt. "I'm not that fragile."

"I don't know," Jared teased. "You did get your ass kicked by a dragon today."

Jensen flopped back against the pillows and yawned as he flipped Jared off. Too buzzed to be affronted, Jared ruffled his hair and then ducked out of the way when Jensen swatted at him. 

He climbed under the covers and spread the sheets over both of them while Jensen complained, "How do you have so much energy now? It was a long day. Be tired."

"I'm tired," Jared said. "I'm just happy as well."

Jensen pursed his lips but cuddled in close with another yawn. "As long as I don't wake up in a sack tomorrow, I'm good with that."

"No kidnappings," he promised, carding his fingers through Jensen's hair as he relaxed in the warmth of the bed. "Night, Jensen."

"Night," Jensen mumbled, already half-asleep. 

That didn't stop him from inching closer into Jared's arms before sleep finally took him and Jared smiled to himself as his own eyes drifted closed.

If he woke up to find this was all a dream, he was going to be pissed.

  


When Jared came to the next morning, it was in an empty bed.

His head throbbed unpleasantly, as though all the mugs of ale he'd consumed were now doing a dance of muggish glee inside his skull, and he burrowed his head in the pillow with a groan, as though that would somehow make the sun retreat for a few more hours. 

Unfortunately, the sun refused to obey his whims and Jared scrunched his nose up as he let out a displeased groan. "I hate sun."

Expecting some response from Jensen, be it empathy or judgment, Jared's scrunch-face became even scrunchier when he rolled over to find Jensen's side of the bed empty. His fleeting worries that his encounter the night before had been a hallucination were soon quashed as the sunlight flooded in through the window, helpfully highlighting the come stains they had left on the sheets, and Jared propped himself up on his elbow, confused. 

"Jensen?"

Jensen didn't emerge from anywhere and Jared rubbed his eyes, squinting past the blur as he looked around. The room was as empty as the bed and his heart started to sink at the realization that Jensen had left him.

"Jensen?" He wrapped the sheets around himself as he climbed out of bed and crossed the room to check outside the door. "Jensen, you here?" He pulled the door open, calling frantically, "Jens-"

He came to an abrupt halt when the first thing he saw outside the door was Jensen.

"Jensen!"

Jensen stared at him. "Hi?" His gaze traveled down to Jared's sheet. "Did something happen to your clothes?"

"What?" Jared looked down. "Oh. No, no, I have clothes," he said, tugging his sheet up as he moved back into their room. "I just- You weren't here."

"And clothes were a secondary concern?" Jensen asked, closing the door behind him. Unlike Jared, he was fully dressed and didn't look too hung-over. Life was unfair. "Relax," Jensen said. "I needed to go send a message and grab some new clothes. I didn't think you'd be awake yet."

"I thought you'd left," Jared blurted out. 

Jensen patted him on the arm. "Not yet," he said. "It's good to know you're eager to get rid of me though."

He moved past him to tuck the rest of his belongings in his pack, leaving Jared standing awkwardly in his sheet and trying to think of the smoothest way to plead with Jensen not to leave.

Polite conversation seemed like a good start. "How's your leg?"

"Good," Jensen said before reconsidering, "Okay, maybe not good, but definitely improving. The salve is helping."

"You sure you can walk on it?" Jared asked, leaning casually against the bedpost. "I mean, I've got a horse if you need some help getting around."

From the look on Jensen's face, he possibly hadn't been as subtle as he'd intended.

"Tell me this isn't the 'we should stick together' talk," Jensen said. "C'mon, Jared, we talked about this last night. I'm leaving. You know I'm leaving."

"Last night was good though," Jared said hopefully. "I know we were drunk but it was okay, right?"

"Last night was great," Jensen reassured him. "But it was a one-time thing."

"It doesn't have to be." He moved in to rest his hands on Jensen's hips. "We worked well together, didn't we?"

Jensen looked away, failing to hide a smile, and Jared pushed, "Didn't we?"

"Yes," he said reluctantly.

"And we made a ton of money by killing that dragon together?"

"Yes."

Jared grinned and gave Jensen's hip a gentle squeeze. "And you had fun last night?"

Jensen smiled. "Yes."

"And you really want to come adventuring with me instead of trudging around the countryside on your own with an injured leg?"

Jensen rolled his eyes. "I'm so glad there's no bias in these questions."

Jared moved in closer. "That isn't a no."

"It isn't a yes, either," Jensen said, folding his arms and remaining frustratingly immune to Jared's advances. "We talked about this, Jared. You get to go off and be a lone, monster-fighting wolf and I get to settle down somewhere and have a life again."

"You could settle down on the road with me?" Jared suggested. "Having a life and fighting monsters are not mutually exclusive."

Jensen narrowed his eyes. "You're not marrying me."

"No marriage," Jared promised. "Just two guys riding around the country and fighting monsters together."

"And having sex?" Jensen filled in.

"Well, yeah," he said, gesturing to his bare chest. "How are you going to resist this?" He dropped the sheet down and turned around to show off his wares. "I mean look at this ass."

He patted himself on the butt and when he turned back around, he was pleased to see that Jensen was laughing even as he half-covered his eyes. "God, warn a guy first."

Jared beamed, covering himself up with the sheet again. "Did it do the trick?"

Jensen dropped his hand back to his side with a sigh. "I guess someone should be there to stop you from becoming a stripper." 

Jared did a double-take. "Wait, what? Is that a yes?"

"Yes," Jensen said patiently. "I'll come with you."

"Really?"

"Y'know, I might change my mind if you keep askin-"

He couldn't get the threat out before Jared pounced, holding him close and dragging him into a rough, fast kiss. Jensen made a surprised noise against his mouth but relaxed into it soon enough as Jared's hands slid down to give his ass the squeeze he had been denied earlier.

Jensen wrinkled his nose when Jared pulled back. Before Jared could worry that Jensen had changed his mind and now found him utterly repulsive, Jensen scrubbed his hand over his mouth and complained, "You have really gross morning breath."

"I'm sorry," Jared said, unable to keep the delighted grin off his face.

"Uh-huh," Jensen teased. "You look so contrite." He stepped back to gather up his pack. "Okay, get your shit together, dude. Don't keep me waiting all day."

"Wouldn't want that," Jared agreed. He glanced back at the bed. "Unless you want to-"

"Have sweaty, frantic morning sex with you?" Jensen smirked. "I'll pass."

"What, you sick of me already?"

"No," he said. "I just don't have a high estimation of your ability to get your ass in gear if we spend the morning in bed together."

"Fair point."

Jensen grinned at that and patted him on the chest as he headed for the door. "Put some clothes on, champ," he said cheerfully. "We got monsters to fight."

  


Despite what their first day together might have suggested, the life of a bona fide adventurer (and his very attractive sidekick) was not as fast-paced as Jared had anticipated.

Admittedly, there were plenty of things for them to fight -- in the first week alone, they cleared out a goblin horde, stopped a rampaging griffin, and removed a harpy from the rafters of a temple -- but it was by no means an everyday occurrence. In between tackling preternatural pests and receiving generous rewards from the thankful villagers, priests and/or nobles, they spent their time trekking around the countryside with no-one but each other and Sadie for company.

Even after a month on the road, Sadie had yet to warm up to Jensen.

The journey was much improved with Jensen in tow, however. He hadn't been kidding about being a terrible cook but with Jared on cooking duties, Jensen was great at finding food. He'd taught Jared the best places to set up camp, the easiest way to catch prey, and the most efficient methods of warding off stinging beetles at night. In return, Jared had taught him how to not burn soup. It seemed like a good trade.

Aside from the practical assistance, it had also been nice to have someone to patch up his wounds, help spend his reward money, and make conversation with him during those long evenings spent in front of the campfire.

Also, the sex was a plus.

However, as much as he liked Jensen, there were always the occasional moments when Jared wished there was no-one else around. 

When he found himself careening down a hill towards a large pile of mud, he decided that this was definitely one of those moments.

He skidded on the wet grass, unable to catch his balance as the ground slipped away beneath him, and he toppled over to land hard on his elbow before beginning to roll the rest of the way down. The mud lurked at the bottom of the hill, thick and sludgy and welcoming, and Jared screwed his eyes shut, cursing loudly as he tumbled down at speed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"Jared!"

Jensen's panicked shout came about a second before Jared hit the mud, thereby removing any hopes he might've had of not embarrassing himself in front of his boyfriend/sidekick. He landed hard, faceplanting into the mud and groaning as it slopped up over his legs and torso. It squelched through his fingers when he pushed himself up but he soon contemplated dropping back down and taking the camouflage approach when he saw Jensen running down the hill after him.

Annoyingly, Jensen managed to stay upright the whole way. He skidded to a halt beside the mud and asked with the kind of concern usually reserved for less embarrassing accidents, "Jared? You okay?"

Jared nodded, wiping the mud out of his eyes with a grimace. "I'm okay, I'm okay." He flicked the mud off his fingers and tested the range of motion in his throbbing elbow. "No injuries, just dirt."

He looked up to see Jensen trying valiantly not to laugh. 

"Shut up."

Jensen held his hands up. "I didn't say anything!"

The innocent look didn't really work when he couldn't keep the smile off his face and Jared pushed himself to his feet and held his arms out. He felt a little like a swamp monster. "Fine. Get it out of your system."

Judging by Jensen's snort of amusement, he didn't need telling twice.

"I hate you," Jared muttered, plodding out of the mud pit. 

His boot got stuck after the first step and he promptly overbalanced again, tipping forward into the dirt with one leg flailing in the air. Jensen cracked up and as Jared dragged himself and his wayward boot back to dry land, it was to the sound of Jensen's helpless laughter.

Breathing hard, he collapsed on the grass and blinked past the mud in his eyelashes as Jensen's smiling face swam into view above him. 

"Hi," he said dopily. Even when its owner was being a dick, Jensen's face still inspired happy feelings. 

Pulling himself together, Jared pushed his muddy hair out of his face and informed Jensen, "You are the worst sidekick ever."

"I'm crushed," Jensen deadpanned. "I warned you not to practice your heroic statue poses on unsteady rocks. It's not my fault you never listen to me."

He did have a point.

"Okay, fine," Jared said. "No more statue poses on hills. Can you yell at me later when I'm not drowning in mud?"

"I guess I can hold off ‘til then," Jensen said. He held out his hand to help him up. "C'mon, champ."

Despite his attempts at cleaning himself, he could feel the thick ooze of mud against his palm as Jensen hauled him upright. He wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant slide of mud coursing down his back and inside his pants, and he groused as Jensen guided him away to greener pastures, "I thought mud wrestling was supposed to be hot. Isn't that a thing?"

Jensen laughed, wiping his hand on his pants and stepping back to look him over. (From the expression on his face, he was not a pleasant sight.) "I think you have to be wearing less clothes for it to be hot," he said helpfully. "Also the only thing you were wrestling with was your dignity."

"We could change that…" 

He took a step towards Jensen, whose eyes went wide.

"Hell no," he warned. "Don't you even think about throwing me in that mud, asshole." Jared advanced further, trailing mud behind him, and Jensen darted back, laughing. "Fuck you. You throw me in there and you'll be catching your own food for a week."

Swayed by the threat to his food, Jared stopped and raised his hands to offer a truce. "I guess one of us should look like an actual person." He shook his head, letting mud splatter onto the grass. "Is there a creek or something around here? I don't think you want to be seen in public with me like this." 

"I don't know, this look might make a good statue," Jensen pondered. "Jared the swamp-dwelling dragon-slayer."

Jared let out a playful growl as he lurched forward and Jensen jumped back out of his reach with a yelp. "Okay, okay!" 

He pulled out the map and traced their route with his finger. "There should be a stream just down the hill. Oh, and a waterfall. Awesome." He pointed over Jared's shoulder. "Go get cleaned up. I'll bring Sadie down with some fresh clothes."

"What, you don't want to shower with me?"

Jensen snorted.

"Oh, I see how it is," Jared said, watching him begin the climb back up the hill. "You only like me for my hygiene."

"Go wash!" Jensen called back.

Given the way his clothes were plastered to his body, Jared didn't need much persuading to clean himself and he trudged obediently in the direction of the waterfall.

It had rained recently, leaving the grass wet and the ground muddy (as Jared's face had discovered in far too much detail), but the sun was starting to peek through the clouds as Jared headed across the field to the line of the trees. The grove was cut through with sunlight which slanted through the trees and lit up the green of the leaves, and Jared couldn't hold back a little moan of delight when he caught sight of the waterfall hidden away behind the rocks.

It tumbled down from the stream above, bright, clear water cascading into a deep pool surrounded by greying rocks. The sunlight glinted off the pool, beckoning him in, and Jared gave up on the idea of showering in favor of wading into the water fully clothed.

It was warm against his legs, warmer than he was expecting after the rain, but Jared wasn't about to complain.He set his boots and weapons on a handy rock and slid down into the pool with a groan.

The water around him turned cloudy with mud but it soon cleared again as Jared splashed around, letting the water soak his clothes clean. The waterfall rumbled pleasantly in the background and he swam over to rinse the mud out of his hair.

It poured down over his head, crashing around his shoulders and trickling down into his eyes and ears, but Jared frowned when he heard a voice below the rush of water.

Swimming out from under the waterfall, he wiped his eyes and looked around at the empty grove. "Jensen? You here?"

He was met with silence.

Confused, Jared kept treading water. "Jensen?"

"Who's Jensen?"

The voice behind him came as enough of a surprise that Jared forgot to keep kicking.

Flailing in an attempt to keep his head above water, Jared spun around and squinted past the spray of the waterfall. "Who's there?" 

There was no immediate answer and he warned, "Not to brag or anything but some folks call me the Dragon-Slayer. You don't wanna mess with me."

As much as he liked showing off about his accomplishments, it was much more fun to do it with Jensen rather than with an unseen stranger while he was neck deep in water. 

He wished he were still armed.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Still treading water, Jared recoiled when the shape of a person came into view behind the curtain of the waterfall. Their voice was light and playful but Jared did a double-take when the person swam forward through the waterfall to come into view.

"Holy-"

The girl was absolutely beautiful. Her blue eyes glittered with the reflection from the water and her long blonde hair fell in damp curls past her shoulders as she moved easily through the water. From what Jared could see of her chest, she didn't seem to be wearing any clothes and so he kept his eyes on her face to watch the coy smile that danced across her lips.

She looked like something out of a fairytale, and despite being up to his chin in water, Jared's mouth went dry. "I- I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't know anyone was in here."

The girl shrugged. "I don't mind." She swam closer and eyed him curiously. "You said you were a dragon slayer?"

Jared's clothes were heavy with water but he was glad he was still dressed when she bobbed up and down in the water, revealing the swell of her breasts. "Uh, yeah," he said proudly. "I'm Jared. I'm an adventurer."

The girl raised her eyebrows, impressed. "An adventurer? What do you do?"

"Have adventures, mostly." He pushed his hair back from his face with a smile. "Me and my friend, we travel around and help out with problems. We stop things that are hurting people."

"Sounds heroic," the girl said, swimming backward. Her gaze lowered to his shoulders. "Do you always bathe with your clothes on or is that just for my benefit?"

"What?" Jared looked down. "Oh, no, this is just because I-" He stopped himself before he could give the accurate reason of 'fell down a hill and into some mud like a chump' and offered an abridged version, "got dirty. I needed to clean my clothes." He swam forward and turned around to get a better look at the pool and the waterfall. "This place is great, by the way."

The girl's eyes shone blue as she tilted her head back to soak her hair under the waterfall. "I like it."

Swimming to the edge, Jared pulled his shirt off over his head and dumped it next to his boots on the rocks. The freedom of movement was an immediate relief and he ducked underwater to make his way back to the middle of the pool. "I didn't catch your name?"

"Adrianne," the girl said, combing her wet hair over her shoulder.

"You from around here?" Jared wished he'd paid more attention to the map instead of just letting Jensen guide him everywhere. "Is there a town nearby?"

"I live close by." Moving back to the rocks behind the waterfall, Adrianne floated in the water and beckoned Jared closer. "You said you had a friend with you?"

Jared struggled to hide the smile that crossed his face every time he talked about Jensen. "Yeah, he's my partner. He's just getting my horse -- he should be here soon."

Adrianne looked intrigued. "Is he like you?" she asked, moving in close. "Is he a hero too?"

"He-" Jared paused. He'd never been propositioned for a threesome before but this was not unlike how he'd imagined it going. "Jensen's great," he said. "He's more of a sidekick than a hero, I guess -- he does the research and I do the fighting."

Adrianne looked up at him through her lashes. She had very pretty lashes. "He doesn't sound as impressive as you."

Jared's cheeks heated. Despite spending a month hooking up with the most attractive guy he'd ever met, he was still a little intimidated by receiving compliments from gorgeous women.

"I don't know," he said, "he's pretty impressive in his own way."

Smiling softly, Adrianne reached out to splay her fingers on Jared's chest. Her hand was cool from the water and Jared looked between her bare breasts and her soft lips as she murmured, "Is he as handsome as you?"

"Handsomer," he said honestly.

Adrianne's laugh was light and playful as the burble of the water. Her hand curled around Jared's shoulder to coax him further back behind the waterfall. "I doubt that."

She leaned in to let her lips brush Jared's cheek and Jared flinched back, instantly guilty. "Hey, Adrianne, I'm really sorry if I gave you the wrong idea but-"

"Relax," she teased. "I'm not trying to take you away from your friend."

"Oh. Good." He frowned. "Is this a threesome thing? Because I'm kind of new to the whole concept and I don't know if Jensen would really be into that…"

Adrianne laughed again, circling him easily in the water and running her fingers down his cheek. "Maybe you and your friend could come back with me," she suggested, moving in close enough that Jared could feel the press of her breasts against his chest. "We could take it from there."

"I don't-"

"C'mon, Jared," she pushed, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "I don't see heroes like you around here often. What do you say?"

"I- I guess we could come back with you," Jared said, embarrassingly pleased by the flattery. "Y'know, just to talk and have a drink maybe. Is your house nearby, or-"

Adrianne smiled. "Very near."

The next thing Jared felt was the rush of water up his nose.

He choked and flailed his arms as he fought to get back to the surface. His throat and nose burned with the pressure of the water and he coughed as soon as he broke the surface.

He was only up long enough to suck in a quick, reflexive breath of air before something wrapped around his leg, tugging him back down under the water. Unable to shake it loose, Jared reached down to pry it off but frowned when his fingers slipped off the coil of it. Panic set it, a sharp burst of terror in his chest, but he tried to force himself to stay calm as he opened his eyes and looked around for Adrianne.

She was right below him, floating calmly underwater with her blonde hair fanning out around her shoulders. Her breasts were bare but Jared couldn't bring himself to focus on them as his gaze slid down her body in shock. Her ribs led to the dip of her waist which in turn flared out to the rounds of her hips, but instead of the inward curve of her thighs, her body darkened to a deep blue and split into thick, writhing tentacles that bustled beneath her.

If he'd been above the surface, Jared probably would've screamed.

As it was, he settled for letting out a muffled noise from behind sealed lips and struggled harder, trying to shake the grip of her tentacle off his leg. He kicked out with his other leg, catching her on the chest more by accident than intent, and took advantage of her momentary distraction to squirm free and fight his way back to the surface.

The first gulp of air was possibly the best thing Jared had ever experienced. Even as he gasped for breath, he forced himself to keep moving, heading out of the pool towards the safety of the rocks. The water moved around his legs as he kicked, enough that he couldn't tell whether it was from his own movements or from Adrianne lurking close by. 

He got his answer when something grabbed his ankle.

"Jensen!" he yelled, fighting with his unimpeded limbs to stay afloat. "Jens-"

The number of unimpeded limbs was reduced from three to two as his other ankle was caught too and Jared couldn't do anything other than hold his breath when he was tugged down under the water again.

She pulled him down faster this time, tentacles coiling up along his knees and thighs to bind his legs together. Her face was still human, even if half her body wasn't, but somehow that made it worse as Jared was faced with her bright, pretty smile while she dragged him down to his death.

She remained facing him, keeping her torso pressed against his while her tentacles looped around his legs. Jared tried to hit her, lashing out as hard as he could against the resistance of the water, but she avoided the blows easily. She hummed to herself, filling the water around Jared's ears with the melody while she pulled him further into the depths of the pool.

It grew darker the deeper they went, the pressure making Jared's chest ache with the need to breathe, but he squinted past at the rocks littering the pool floor when he saw something shining beneath him.

He stopped squinting and started thrashing when he realized it was a body.

Bodies littered the ground. Some were reduced to bones, splintered ribcages filled with pebbles and jawless skulls peering out at him from crevices, but some were fresher. Their corpses were swollen and decayed, chunks of slick, greying flesh tearing away from the skeletons and dancing in the water, and milky-white eyes stared up at Jared from rotting eye-sockets. The bodies were accompanied by rusting swords and armor, and as Jared took in the dull glimmer of the abandoned weapons, he realized Adrianne had a type.

She stroked her fingers through his hair, smiling fondly, and Jared tried to ignore the bodies beneath him as he shook his head frantically. He wasn't sure how to convey 'please don't drown me like a creepy trophy' to a murderous half-tentacle creature.

Adrianne didn't let go of him, just wrapped herself tighter around his body and leaned in to kiss him on the lips. Jared cringed back, desperate for air, and let out a wordless plea against her mouth. He didn't want to die like this.

"Shhh," Adrianne soothed, apparently unfazed by the lack of oxygen. "I'll look after you."

Jared shook his head. The pain in his chest was building to an overwhelming burn and the silence of the water around him was layered over with the rush of blood in his ears. 

Making a last ditch attempt at survival, he pulled back from the parody of a kiss and dove down as much as he could. The move evidently came as a surprise to Adrianne, whose grip on his legs loosened, and Jared strained to reach the hilt of a sword laying by a body.

It was an old, rusted weapon but it was still a weapon. He swung out blindly, slashing at Adrianne's torso with the blade but promptly had the sword knocked out of his hand by the lash of a tentacle. The whites of Adrianne's eyes bled dark blue when she hissed in anger but Jared's heart sank when he saw the sword had barely wounded her, leaving just a shallow cut along the side of her ribs.

Her hand closed around his throat and Jared winced as her nails sliced his skin. His eyes stung and his vision blurred at the edges as his struggles grew weaker.

He wondered whose bodies would be resting with his own on the pool floor.

On the edge of slipping into unconsciousness, Jared was wrenched back awake by Adrianne's scream.

The water sang with it, shrill and furious, and Jared found himself tipping backwards when Adrianne let go of him. She whirled around, tentacles snaking out through the dark water, and Jared blinked in disbelief when he saw what was behind her.

Jensen was treading water, still fully dressed but brandishing a sharp knife in one hand. The cloud of blood around the blade suggested it had found its mark and Jared hesitated, needing air but not wanting to abandon Jensen now that he'd shown up to save his ass.

Fortunately Jensen made the choice for him. Evading the clutches of the thrashing tentacles, he circled Adrianne to grab Jared by the arm and haul him up to the surface. Jared's brain clicked into gear a second later and he kicked hard to propel them both to the glorious, wonderful air that awaited him.

He broke the surface with a gasp, sucking in lungful after lungful of air between coughs and splutters. The world seemed brighter and shinier than when he'd left in and as they both swam for safety, Jared mentally promised not to leave it again for a long, long time.

"Thank you," he gasped, pulling himself through the water. "Fuck, thank you."

Jensen grabbed the back of his neck and dragged him forward. "Swim first," he ordered, "thank later."

He'd barely finished speaking when he let out a yell and Jared spun around to see him disappear below the surface in a boil of bubbles.

"Jensen!"

He paused for a second, trying to devise a plan to defeat a clingy tentacle creature, but after coming up blank, he dived down after Jensen anyway. 

He saw the lone tentacle coiled around Jensen's calf and the glitter of the knife in Jensen's hand but Adrianne whirled around to face him before Jared could make a move. She let out another shriek, more of rage than pain this time, and Jared flinched back when she lunged for him.

Her face changed in a blink, darkening to the same blue as her tentacles and elongating until it was more eel than human. She bared her teeth in a roar and snapped at him, missing him by inches as he darted back out of her way. She was bleeding from a cut on her arm where Jensen had nicked her earlier and the water turned inky around her body as she descended on Jared with a snarl.

The snarl changed to a cry before her teeth could sink into his flesh. 

Glancing past her, Jared smiled in relief when he saw the blood blossoming from the severed end of a tentacle. The part that was looped around Jensen's leg was no longer attached to its base and clouds of blood filled the water as she thrashed, enraged. Kicking the rest of the tentacle off his leg, Jensen swam upwards again and Jared gladly followed, desperate to get out of the lake.

Adrianne's shouts filled his ears as he powered over to the edge of the pool with Jensen at his side. Weak and tired from being underwater so long, Jared struggled to haul himself up onto the rocks and was grateful for Jensen's help as he dragged him the rest of the way out of the water.

Rolling off the rocks onto the ground, Jared stared up at the canopy of the trees as he took breath after breath and waited for his head to stop pounding quite so hard.

"Jared?" Jensen's face loomed over his, looking even more attractive now that neither of them were in immediate danger of being killed. "Jared, you okay?" 

Jared nodded, exhausted. "I'm okay," he murmured between breaths. "I'm okay. God, thank you so much." Recovering a few more of his senses, he blinked and lifted his head to look over at the pool, where the water was now looking decidedly less serene. "Is she dead?"

Jensen pushed his wet hair back and shook his head. "Not dead. Just injured." He peered over the rocks. "But I don't think she can leave the water to come after us."

"Thank fuck," Jared said, pulling himself to a sitting position. His chest ached less now that he could breathe again but he was still drained from the unexpected fight. "Should we kill her?"

Moving over to Sadie to change out of his wet clothes, Jensen glanced back over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, sure. You can just dive back on in there and kill her. Knock yourself out."

"Point taken." Pulling himself to his feet, Jared grabbed his sword, shirt and boots and wandered over to Jensen. "What do we do?" he asked. "We can't just leave her there. What if she kills someone else?"

Jensen tugged on a pair of dry pants and turned to face him. "We'll leave a sign."

Jared stared at him. "A sign."

"Yeah," Jensen said with a shrug.

"Saying what? 'If you go in this pool, a hot girl who is actually a horrible tentacle monster will try to drown you and keep you with her forever'?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'Danger: nymph's lair. Do not enter.'" Jensen smirked. "Of course, if you want to go find a big enough piece of wood, we can use your suggestion."

"Yours works," Jared said casually. He mostly just wanted to sleep, not go wood-hunting. "So she was a nymph? I thought nymphs were, y'know..."

"Hot naked girls who hang out in lakes?"

"Pretty much." He brightened. "I guess I was half right?"

Sliding a fresh shirt on, Jensen asked, "You feeling okay? You're not injured or anything?"

"Not injured," he said. "Thanks to you."

"Good," Jensen said and slapped him across the face.

"Ow!" Stumbling backward, Jared put a hand to his stinging cheek. "What the hell was that for?"

"For being dumb enough to agree to go home with a nymph!" 

"I didn't agree to anything!" Jared insisted. "I was just talking to her!"

"Bullshit. This isn't the first nymph I've dealt with, Jared. They can't claim you as a prize unless you go with them willingly."

"I didn't know she was a nymph! I didn't even know what a nymph actually was until now. I just-"

"Met a pretty, half-naked girl and decided to let her take you home?" Jensen looked at him coldly. "Nice to know where I stand."

"Wait, wait," Jared said, holding his hands out as he moved in close. This day was not going well. "I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't leaving you for her, I swear. I told her about you and she said you could come too. I thought she lived in a village close by -- I was going to come get you so that we could go together."

Jensen eyed him with suspicion but he looked more amused than angry. "Are you telling me you nearly died because you were hoping for a threesome?"

"Maybe?"

Jensen reached out again, this time to cuff him lightly around the back of the head. "You're an idiot."

"Guilty." He smiled sheepishly as he met Jensen's eyes. "Forgive me?"

"You're not allowed to get yourself killed," Jensen said firmly. "No putting yourself in danger because you're thinking with your dick. That is not okay."

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. 

Pulling Jensen in close, he pressed a kiss to his forehead and was pleased to feel Jensen relax a little under his hands. He was sympathetic to his worries -- Jared would've freaked the fuck out if it had been Jensen under the water about to be drowned by a grabby tentacle nymph -- but that didn't stop him being weirdly happy that Jensen was so concerned about him.

His weird happiness was soon punctured when Jensen flicked his earlobe.

"Hey!"

"Stop giving me that face," Jensen said, not unkindly. "That's your dopey romantic face. This is not romantic. This is you nearly dying because you're a jackass who thinks surprise naked women are a normal and legitimate happenstance."

"But you were worried about me," Jared teased, leaning in close enough for his nose to brush Jensen's.

Jensen batted him away. "Yeah, worried that I'd have to look after your horse. Who still hates me, by the way."

"Oh, all about Sadie," Jared said, nodding with feigned understanding. "Of course."

"Shut up." Despite his words, a smile crept across Jensen's lips and he moved away to wring out his wet clothes. "Get your stuff packed up and go find some wood for a sign, idiot."

"Sir, yes, sir," Jared barked, just to see Jensen shake his head. Now fully dressed, he turned away to lead Sadie back through the woods, looking every bit the dashing adventurer Jared had pictured as a kid.

"You're my hero!" Jared called after him, hand on his heart.

He grinned when Jensen's unimpressed reply drifted back through the trees. "Yeah, yeah."

Smiling to himself, he watched Jensen lead Sadie down to the creek before he started to get dressed. His limbs were still heavy with exhaustion and he shuddered when he looked back at the now-placid pool beneath the waterfall. 

Maybe toning down the boasts of his heroic exploits wouldn't be such a bad plan. Especially when said boasts were directed towards pool-dwelling tentacle nymphs with a thing for hero-types.

  


"You stole a wagon?"

"Technically my friend did the actual stealing," Jared said. "I was just an innocent bystander who happened to be sitting in the wagon at the time."

"I'm glad you decided to become an adventurer instead of a lawyer," Jensen said with a smile. "You would've been terrible at that. 'See, your honor, my client just happened to be holding a knife when the victim slipped and fell onto it repeatedly'."

"Hey." Since the nymph incident a couple of weeks earlier, he knew Jensen didn't have the highest opinion of his intelligence but he wasn't about to let his honor go undefended. From his position on Sadie's back, he kneed Jensen in the shoulder as they wound their way down the hillside. "I'm not that dumb."

"You're pretty dumb."

"Shush," Jared said. "Anyway, my innocent bystanding in a stolen cart ended with Chad crashing into a dung pile. I got more closely acquainted with horse shit than I ever needed to be."

Jensen laughed. "I guess that's what happens when you get drunk and decide wagon thievery is a good plan."

Jared waved it away. "Psht. As if you've never made bad choices when you're drunk."

"What, like hooking up with you?"

"Ouch." He put his hand to his chest and feigned a wince. "Harsh." Feigned emotional pain could only last so long and he nudged Jensen again. "C'mon, you must've done something stupid when you were drunk. You can't be Mr Perfect all the time."

They picked their way through some rocks, Jensen on foot and Jared taking his turn to guide Sadie, as Jensen admitted, "I might've pretended to be a wood sprite once."

"A wood sprite?" Jared's eyebrows shot up. "As in naked, lurking in trees wood sprite? I think I'm going to need more details."

As they continued down the hill, Jared hesitated when he saw a cluster of soldiers gathered at the outskirts of the forest. There was nothing on the map that required the presence of soldiers but Jared decided to follow the trail down anyway. He could flee from possibly evil soldiers after he'd heard the story of Jensen's drunken naked wood frolickings.

"There isn't much to tell," Jensen said. "I got drunk and my friend talked me into posing as a wood sprite to scare the general of an army that was passing through. The guy was superstitious, I was wasted, and my friend was an opportunist, so…"

He trailed off with a shrug, apparently done with his story.

"Hey, you can't leave it there," Jared said. "Did you scare away the general? Were you naked?"

Jensen laughed. "Yes and yes."

"See, how is this not the first thing you tell me?" Jared asked, steering Sadie left towards the forest. "You should open every conversation with 'Hi, I'm Jensen, I once scared away an entire army without any weapons'."

"I guess that's better than 'Hi, I'm Jensen, I once scared away an entire army by taking my clothes off'." He wrinkled his nose. "I don't think that would endear me to people."

"It would endear you to me," Jared said honestly. There was a lot about Jensen he found very endearing.

The soldiers by the forest edge looked up as they approached. Jared cleared his throat and whispered to Jensen, "Okay, serious faces."

"I'm really looking forward to the day when you don't need to say that on a daily basis."

"Shh."

Serious faces were an excellent strategy and one that Jared employed when two of the soldiers came out to greet him, one on horseback and one on foot. Judging by the medals adorning the one on horseback, he was the leader but Jared blinked when said leader got close enough to reveal that he was actually a she. 

She had shoulder-length dark hair, deep brown eyes and a lethal-looking sword and so Jared fixed his most polite expression on his face as he asked, "Is there a problem, ma'am?" 

He'd learned that courtesy went a long way with people who had swords and were in charge of at least eight soldiers.

"The road through the forest is closed," she said. "We're just about to set up diversion notices but if you're heading to Pyla, you'll need to take the path around the lake to enter from the west. There's a village on the way if you and your servant are looking for somewhere to rest."

Intrigued, Jared asked, "Why is the road closed?"

Affronted, Jensen spoke at the same time, "Servant?"

The commander addressed Jensen's query first. Judging by how annoyed Jensen sounded, Jared figured that was probably a good choice.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, gesturing to Jared's position on Sadie's back. "I just assumed…"

"We take turns riding the horse," Jared explained. "And he's not a servant -- he's my sidekick." 

Jensen raised his eyebrows. 

"Partner," Jared said quickly. "He is my partnery-type person who is definitely not a sidekick." 

He stuck out his hand. Names seemed like a better tactic than trying to describe Jensen. 'Guy who I have sex with and who helps me not die' was kind of a mouthful. "I'm Jared and this is Jensen."

Jensen gave an awkward wave while the commander shook Jared's hand. "Cortese," she said. "This is Abel."

It was a toss-up whether Abel was the man or the horse but Cortese nodded to the soldier on her right, who was currently staring at Jared like he was some kind of deformed mythical creature.

(Jared knew this because he'd been turned into a deformed mythical creature a couple of weeks earlier. It hadn't been a pleasant few days.)

"You're Jared?" Abel asked, stunned. " _The_ Jared?"

Jared and Jensen exchanged looks. 

"There's a _the_ Jared?"

Jensen shrugged. "Apparently."

Jared frowned. "Is it me?"

"I guess?"

Straightening up, Jared gave Abel a salute. "That'd be me. Can I help with anything?"

Abel opened his mouth but Cortese spoke over him, "No. We appreciate the offer but this is our jurisdiction. We'll take care of it."

"But he's a hero," Abel said, still staring at Jared with wide eyes. "He killed a dragon and a harpy and some goblins. He's gotta be able to take out a few spirits."

"Spirits?" Jared looked between Jensen and Cortese. "We could probably handle some spirits, right?"

"What kind of spirits?" Jensen asked. "What are they doing?"

Those were probably sensible questions to ask before diving in to a spirit hunt. 

Cortese sighed. For a second Jared thought she was about to send them away but he listened up when she said, "We don't know what they are. There've been rumors of spirits in these forests for decades but there's been a run of disappearances lately. Five travelers have gone missing in the last week alone so we're closing the road until we can stop it."

"Disappearances? No bodies?"

"None that we found," Cortese said. "Once the road is closed, we can send out more search parties with soldiers."

"Or you could send us," Jared suggested with a smile. "Like the man said, I am _the_ Jared." He caught Jensen's disapproving look and toned it down. He didn't want to end up getting attacked by another tentacle creature. "I mean, uh, we've had experience with the extraordinary. We'd be happy to take a look at it for you."

"Especially if there's a reward," Jensen added. It was less subtle than his usual inquiries into possible remuneration but since he'd already been mistaken for a servant, Jared guessed he wasn't feeling that tactful.

"There's a reward," Cortese said. "But it's too dangerous for you to go out there. The road's closed-"

"It's not closed yet though, right?" Jared said. "You're still setting up the diversion. Jensen and I could just sneak past when your backs are turned."

"And vanish into the woods as well?" She arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, I'm doing my job really well if I let that happen."

"It's gotta be in your interests to let us try," Jensen cut in smoothly. "If the diversion's as long as you say it is, people aren't going to bother making the journey to Pyla. It'll affect trade for months while you comb through the forest." 

He flashed her a smile which Jared recognized clearly as his 'look how pretty I am, please do what I want' strategy. "What've you got to lose by letting us check it out? Either we solve the problem or you find an extra pair of bodies when you search the woods."

Cortese pursed her lips.

"C'mon, Commander," Jared pushed. "Let us go fight some spirits for you."

"All right," she agreed. Jared's smile faded a second later when she said, "We'll come with you."

"What? No, you don't need-"

"My job is to stop people vanishing in that forest," she cut in. "So either you take the detour or Abel and I go in with you."

Abel's head snapped up. "Wait, what?"

Cortese ignored him. "Your choice, gentlemen."

Jared leaned over to consult with Jensen in whispers. "This feels like a bad idea."

"Because someone might see how incompetent you are sixty percent of the time?" Jensen shrugged. "It can't hurt to have some backup, especially from someone who knows these woods."

Decision made, Jared looked back at Cortese and Abel with a smile. "We're on."

Cortese's expression was inscrutable when she looked between the two of them. "Fine."

"Um, what?" Abel said. "No. Not fine. I don't want to go back in-"

"You have your orders, soldier." 

From her tone of voice, this wasn't the first time she'd had to corral Abel back into line and Jared gave him a sympathetic smile. "It'll be fine," he promised. "We go in, get rid of some spirits, and be back to Pyla by nightfall."

"Nothing says success like blind optimism," Jensen deadpanned.

Abel looked down at his boots with a sigh. "Man, this is not going to end well."

"Is there anything you need before we set out?" Cortese asked, turning her horse around. "Any special weapons or supplies?"

Jared kind of wished the answer was yes -- it would be way more impressive if he had a magical spirit-banishing scepter -- but he shook his head. "Nope. Just us."

Cortese looked skeptical. Jared couldn't really blame her.

"Okay," she said, spurring her horse into motion. "Let's go."

Abel's shoulders slumped as he trudged toward the forest behind her. "I should've just been a manure salesman like my mom wanted."

  


They'd traveled for less than an hour before the fog set in.

Deep in conversation with Cortese about the trials and tribulations of horse ownership -- Cortese's horse was named Patrick and, although braver than Sadie when danger was involved, seemed to spend most of his life in pursuit of carrots -- he'd almost forgotten about the spirit hunt that was currently in progress. The woods were bright and welcoming, thick with lush green foliage and lit by streaks of sunshine. It didn't seem like the kind of place for a haunting.

Jared was therefore taken by surprise when he looked ahead to see that Abel and Jensen had disappeared from view.

"So then I tried putting lemon juice in my hair to stop him from eating it," Cortese said, steering Patrick under a low branch. "It worked, I guess, but the juice must've done something to my hair because I had these light streaks for week-"

"Whoa," Jared said, more to Sadie than Cortese. They both came to a halt and he looked around nervously. "Jensen? Abel?"

Cortese did a double-take when she realized they were no longer in sight. "What the hell?" she asked. "It was sunny two seconds ago."

Jared shook his head. "I don't know." 

The greenery of the forest was cloaked in a thick white blanket of fog, illuminated by the ghostly glimmers of sunlight that filtered through, and as Jared reached down to calm Sadie, he could barely see more than a few steps ahead of him. "Jensen!"

"Abel!" Cortese yelled. "Abel, can you hear me?"

Not wanting to charge ahead blindly, Jared climbed down off Sadie's back and gave her another soothing pat before edging forward. "Jensen? You out there?"

"Jared…"

Jensen's call was weak and Jared ran forward, leaving Sadie with Cortese and Patrick as he tried to follow Jensen's voice. 

He didn't need to follow it far. 

Jared's eyes widened when Jensen stumbled forward out of the fog and dropped heavily to his knees. His hand was pressed to his side and as Jared ran to him, he couldn't miss the wet stickiness of the blood that poured out past Jensen's fingers. 

"Jensen!" Dropping to his knees, he cupped Jensen's cheek in one hand as he inspected the wound. It went deep, a gaping, bloody hole in Jensen's side, and combined with the blood loss and how close Jensen was to passing out, Jared knew it didn't look good. "What happened?"

"Abel," Jensen gasped, gritting his teeth as he swayed against Jared. "We were talking and then there was all this fucking fog and Abel had a knife in his hand…"

"Abel did this?"

Cortese moved up beside them, pale and stunned, and Jensen looked up at her with a weak nod. "Yeah. Maybe. He-" He pulled in a shaky breath and Jared felt the pained tremors go through his whole body. "I don't know what happened. His face- It's like he was possessed."

"Possessed?" Jared looked between Jensen and Cortese. "Can spirits actually do that?"

Cortese frowned. "You don't know? I thought you were the expert on spirits."

"We're not exactly experts in anything," Jared admitted. "Mostly we're working with a passing knowledge of things."

"A passing knowledge?! You're telling me I came out into the middle of a haunted forest with a couple of guys who have no real clue how to stop these things?" She scrubbed a hand over her face. "Great. That's great."

"You wanna yell at me sometime when my partner isn't bleeding to death?" Jared snapped. "We can help. We're good at this." Their past successes weren't much comfort when Jensen's blood was covering his hands but he ignored that in favor of tilting Jensen's head up to face him. "Hey, hey, stay with me, man. Can you remember which way Abel went?"

"Left," Jensen said weakly. "We couldn't have been more than twenty paces ahead of you and he went left after he stabbed me. I couldn't see any more than that."

"That's good," Jared soothed. "That's really good, Jensen. Just hold on for me, okay?" He looked up at Cortese. "I'll go after Abel. You stay here with Jensen and the horses."

"Like hell I will," she said. "Abel's under my command. He's my responsibility. I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not." Conscious of how much blood Jensen was losing, Jared kept it short and simple. "You said it yourself, you never find any bodies. If we leave him here, whatever's in these woods will come back for him and I'm not letting that happen."

"Then you stay and defend him," Cortese said, drawing her sword from its sheath. She dropped the horses' reins by Jared's side and snatched a dagger up in her other hand. "I'll find Abel."

"Cortese-"

"This isn't a negotiation."

"I know," Jared said. He gave her a small smile. "Good luck."

She nodded in response and was promptly engulfed by the fog as she headed out into the woods.

Jensen shivered against his chest, his cheeks ashen from blood loss, and Jared held him closer. "It's gonna be okay," he promised. "You'll be fine. We'll get rid of a couple of spirits then you can rest up in Pyla for as long as you want. I'll even let you braid my hair if you get bored."

Jensen laughed at that but any happiness on Jared's part was extinguished when Jensen winced a second later, pressing a hand harder against his side. "Don't make me laugh, asshole."

While the rest of his face was impossibly pale, his lips looked redder than Jared remembered and his heart plummeted at the realization that it was blood. 

"Hey," he said softly, "I'm going to get you up on Sadie, okay? That way if anything happens, you can take her and run. You think you can stand?"

Jensen's smile was barely there. "I can try."

Despite Jensen's best efforts, getting him to his feet was a two-man job and Jared all but carried him as they moved over to Sadie. Blood dripped from Jensen's wound, staining the dirt with dark red drops, and Jared failed to stop his own hands trembling with nerves and adrenaline as he helped support him. 

"You're going to be okay," he said, for his benefit as much as Jensen's. "You're not going to die on me. We're going to get out of here and I'm going to deal with the fact that I might be falling in love with you in a healthy, appropriate way, not in the middle of a haunted forest." 

He forced a smile and tried to ignore the queasy roll of his stomach at the thought of Jensen dying. "So no death yet, you hear me?"

Jensen nodded weakly. "No death." He smiled. "Got it."

Distracted by even the tiniest of smiles from Jensen, Jared didn't notice the knife heading towards his throat before it was almost too late.

"What-"

It glinted dully in Jensen's hand as he swung, and Jared pulled back with less than an inch to spare between the blade and his neck. He could've sworn he heard the whoosh of the knife as it sailed close to his skin but he had no time to congratulate himself on his knife-dodging prowess before Jensen swung again, stabbing down towards Jared's heart and forcing him to jump back out of reach.

"What the hell?" he yelled. "Jensen, it's me! Stop!"

Jensen's hand was perfectly steady as he slashed at Jared's torso. He caught him on the ribs and when he lunged forward, his movements definitely weren't those of a guy who'd been bleeding to death a moment earlier.

"Jensen!" Jared shouted, ducking the knife blade again. "This isn't you, man. It's the spirit. It's controlling you, or possessing you, or something."

Jensen's laugh was full of malicious delight. They circled each other as Jared drew his sword but Jensen didn't attack again, twirling the knife in his fingers while he mocked, "You don't know much about spirits, do you?"

"I know enough," Jared shot back.

Jensen licked the blood off his lips with a smirk. "I doubt that."

"Who are you?" Jared asked, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't involve hurting Jensen any more. "Why are you doing this?"

Jensen -- or more accurately, the thing inside Jensen -- shrugged. "Because I'm good at it," he said coolly. "Everyone needs a hobby, right? Even if they are dead."

Jared frowned, keeping his sword raised. "I- You're dead?"

"I think 'spirit' was kind of a clue," Jensen said. He spun the knife in his fingers then pounced again, only to have his attack parried and deflected. "Nice," he said with a grin. "Haven't seen a decent defense in a while." At Jared's confused look, he said, "I used to work this road when I was alive."

Jared's footsteps stuttered as he kept circling him. "You were a hooker?"

The offended expression on Jensen's face was painfully familiar and Jared cringed. He really needed to stop mistaking people for prostitutes.

"An entrepreneur," Jensen corrected. "I helped any travelers who were weighed down with their belongings."

"You robbed them."

"Pretty much."

"Did you kill them too?" Jared asked, disgusted.

Jensen smirked. "Call it an occupational hazard. Of course, they caught me eventually but hey, that's what warlocks are for."

"You're a warlock?"

"I knew a warlock," he said. "Nice guy. I mean, if you ignore the weird cannibalism fetish."

Jared grimaced. It was beyond strange to hear another man's words spilling out of Jensen's mouth, especially while thick streams of blood still trailed from his wound, but he figured that if he wanted to get them both out of this alive, it was best to keep him talking.

"You snatched people from the road and he ate them," he filled in. "That sounds pleasant."

Jensen's lips twisted in a smile. "Oh, I don't know. You'd be surprised how good it tastes. One hell of a power trip too."

His tongue darted out to lick his bloody lips. Jared tried very hard not to throw up at the thought of Jensen chomping his way through a human corpse.

"Wait, you said you _knew_ a warlock? What, did you kill him and decide to eat everyone yourself?"

It was half-intended as a joke but his eyes widened at Jensen's smile. "Guess you aren't as dumb as you look." He tossed the knife lazily from hand to hand before looking at Jared with a glint in his eyes. "Think fast."

Jared barely had time to process what was happening when Jensen threw the knife. He launched it wide enough that Jared was in no danger of being hit but his breath rushed out of him when he realized what Jensen was aiming for.

"No!"

Throwing himself to the side to stop the knife, Jared hit it before it could hit Sadie. 

It caught him on the forearm, slicing clean through his shirt and deep into his skin. Bright red blood soaked his shirt in seconds as his momentum carried him to the ground, and Jared looked up in time to see Jensen draw a second dagger and charge at him with a snarl.

Dirt and dust scraped the wounds on his arm and ribs as Jared rolled away across the ground. He kicked out, catching Jensen on the hip and sending him sprawling backwards to where Sadie followed up with a hoof to his shoulder. 

Even with the knowledge that he was possessed, Jensen's cry of pain made his chest tighten and Jared backed off, sword in hand, and warned, "Let him go."

"Or what?" Dragging himself to his feet, Jensen sneered at him. "You got nothing, boy. I'm gonna kill you then I get to pick off those other three one by one."

"You-"

Jared stopped himself as he processed what Jensen had just said. 

"Other three?" From the flicker of Jensen's gaze, he knew he'd caught him out and Jared's reticence vanished as he raised his sword. "You're not Jensen."

Jensen -- or rather the spirit -- narrowed its eyes but couldn't resist another dig. "I told you that you didn't know much about spirits."

No longer keeping up the pretense of human possession, the spirit dove forward in a flash, dagger raised. Jared raised his sword as a barrier, slicing sideways when the spirit came into contact with it, but the long deep cut down its chest didn't seem to slow down his charge. 

Jared went flying backwards under the force of the attack. He landed with Jensen's weight on top of him but he was glad for all the sparring sessions which had devolved into lazy make-out sessions when he rolled himself on top of the spirit to pin it to the ground. It writhed and thrashed under him, lashing out hard enough to knock Jared's sword from his hand as it drove the dagger up towards Jared's throat.

The spirit laughed when Jared caught its wrist and it pushed its hips up against him as it drawled, "You got a lot of pent-up aggression there, boy. I know this body looks good but you ain't using me to test out all those dirty little things you're too embarrassed to try with your boyfriend. I got some standards, y'know."

"Shut the fuck up," Jared spat. He didn't dwell on whose face he was hitting when he smacked the spirit across the jaw and fought to wrestle the knife from its grip. 

Despite his current position, he was no match for the spirit and he doubled over with a groan when its elbow slammed into his stomach. It flipped him over, straddling him easily, and Jared struggled to shove it away when it slid the dagger up against the flesh of his throat.

As hard as he pushed, the spirit kept gaining ground. It sliced a fraction deeper with every move and Jared pressed himself as flat as possible to wriggle out of the path of the blade. 

If he was going to die, he really didn't want it to be at the hands of something wearing his partner's face. Especially when he'd accidentally confessed he was in love with said partner a few minutes earlier.

"No--"

"Yes," the spirit taunted. It lowered its face to his as the line of fire across Jared's throat grew hotter and sharper. "Just relax and let it happen. Death isn't so-"

The sentence ended in a choked gasp and Jared looked up to see the bloody tip of a blade sticking out of the spirit's chest.

Seizing the opportunity, he snatched the dagger and kicked the spirit away before he scrambling to his feet to see a non-homicidal Abel, a sword-wielding Cortese, and a blessedly alive Jensen standing together amid the whirling fog. 

"Excellent timing," he said breathlessly, putting a hand to his neck. "Seriously. Amazing."

"You okay?" Jensen asked, moving in to look at his wounds. "You're bleeding…"

The answer came in Jensen's own voice and Jared backed off, one arm held protectively in front of Jensen as the spirit rose up from the dirt. "He'd be dead if I'd had another few seconds."

"Can't say I'm sorry about that," Jensen said, brushing Jared's arm away and standing beside him.

The spirit's smile was unsettling, even on Jensen's lips, but it made no move to attack them as they spread out in a circle around it. Its body was a mess, bleeding heavily from the holes in its torso, but that didn't seem to bother it as it looked between the four of them.

Its gaze settled on Abel.

"You'll have to forgive me," it said. "Usually I prefer to do this one-on-one. It lets me meet your needs that much better when we're alone." It smirked. "Oh, well."

All of them recoiled when fog spiraled up around the spirit's current form. It came and went in seconds, a thick silver cloak whipped away to reveal something new underneath. 

Where there had previously been a bloody, wounded version of Jensen, there was now a tall, blond guy dressed in the same uniform as the soldiers. He was broader than Abel, with wider-set features, but they looked enough alike that Jared would have guessed at a familial connection even if the spirit hadn't greeted Abel with a smile. "Hey there, little brother."

Abel took a step back as he raised his sword. "You're not my brother."

"Close enough." It held out its arms. "Are you going to kill me like you killed him? Or did you decide fratricide wasn't for you?"

"I didn't kill anyone." 

Abel's voice lacked conviction and Jared looked to Cortese for help as the spirit kept advancing on him. "I- It wasn't my fault. I tried to help him, I didn't-"

Abel's stammered explanation was punctuated by the swing of Cortese's sword. It sliced clean through the spirit's spine in a blow that would've incapacitated any living person, but the spirit only stumbled forward with a shout as its organs came spilling out through the gash in its back. 

It rounded on Cortese with a roar, enveloped with silver fog when it yelled, "You couldn't wait your fucking turn, bitch?"

Jared saw Cortese's mouth fall open when the spirit shifted form again, this time to a slim, red-haired woman. 

She stood her ground, sword in hand. "You're not her."

"But I look like her, don't I, Gen?" It pushed its chest out, drawing their eyes down to where the thin chain of a medallion disappeared into its very visible cleavage. "Same body, same face, same sweet little pussy. You sure you wanna get rid of me that fast?" 

Cortese's swipe caught it on the arm, paring the flesh down to the bone. Jared's arm still throbbed from his shallower cut but the spirit only grimaced at the injury and tossed Cortese's sword aside as it grabbed her by the throat.

Jared and Abel moved at the same time, darting forward to drive their weapons through its body, but it spun around before they could make contact. It threw Cortese into them, knocking the three of them backwards into a heap on the ground.

Gasping at the impact of Cortese's body against his and the thunk of his head against the ground, Jared blinked away the spots dancing across his vision and pushed himself up. "Cortese? You with me?"

Winded but thankfully conscious, Cortese nodded. "The medallion," she whispered. "I don't recognize it."

"Marcus never had one like that either," Abel chimed in, holding his hand to his ribs.

It was only the threat of impending death that prevented Jared from kissing both of them in gratitude. 

It was nice to finally have a target.

Still disoriented from the blow to the head, he glanced over to Jensen but was on his feet in an instant when the spirit knocked him to the ground.

It had changed form once more. In place of the slim redhead there was now a tall, dark-haired man. If he was shorter than Jared, it wasn't by much, but where Jared was young and clean-shaved, the spirit was now older with greying hair and a dark beard. 

From the pallor of Jensen's face as he scrambled backward, the spirit hadn't chosen the shape of someone he was happy to see. 

He overheard the spirit's jibes as he crept up behind it. "C'mon, Jenny, that's no way to greet the man who hauled your pretty little ass off the streets. Would you like me to give your new boyfriend the rundown?"

Inching closer to the spirit, Jared saw Jensen's gaze jump to him but he stayed on the ground. Jensen doubled over, coughing and gasping when the spirit kicked him in the stomach, and Jared caught his quiet pleas as he raised his arm to shield himself from further blows, "No, don't…"

When the spirit drew back its foot to kick him again, Jared made his move.

Catching it by the back of his collar, he yanked it back onto his sword. The spirit jerked, distracted by the blade through its body, and Jared used the opening to reach around and snatch the medallion from the cord around its neck.

"No!"

The spirit's shout was more animal than human and Jared tossed the medallion blindly in Cortese's direction as the spirit wheeled around. It didn't stop to take the sword out before it ran at him with a roar, its teeth and fingers narrowing into sharper points, and Jared went down with it, tumbling head over heels in the dirt as the spirit attacked him furiously.

Pain shot through him in lines of bright agony as the wounds on his arm and ribs were torn open in the tussle. The spirit's claws dug in, making him holler in pain, but his cries were drowned out a moment later by the angry shriek of the spirit.

It convulsed above him, dissolving before his eyes as its scream filled the forest. Cold mist seeped through his clothes to settle on his skin but Jared couldn't do anything other than watch as the spirit faded from human to fog to empty air with an irate screech.

The first rays of sunlight came streaming through, lighting the forest again while the fog dissipated, and Jared collapsed onto the ground with an exhausted sigh. 

Spirits were supposed to be one of the least challenging supernatural menaces, goddammit.

Turning his head, he saw Abel retrieving the two halves of the medallion that had been split by Cortese’s sword.

"Great teamwork, guys," he said around a yawn. "I'm proud of all of you."

Cortese shook her head. "So much for the great spirit conqueror, huh?"

"Hey, it's gone," Jared said, too exhausted to argue the specifics. "I'm efficient like that."

He was debating the merits of taking a nap in the middle of a formerly-haunted forest when he found Jensen sitting next to him. He was bruised and tired but definitely not bleeding to death. Reaching over to pat him on the thigh seemed like the thing to do. "Thank you for not dying."

"Right back at you." Jensen brushed the hair out of Jared's eyes and Jared leaned into the touch with a mindlessly happy moan. Jensen chuckled. "Did you get drunk somewhere in between getting hacked to pieces, or do knife wounds always make you this clingy?"

"Everything hurts and you're not dead," Jared said. "I'm allowed to be clingy."

"Uh-huh." Jensen's fingers were on his ribs, moving the torn fabric away from his wound. "I don't know if this needs stitches, but it definitely needs cleaning. We need to get you to Pyla."

"Take your horse," Cortese said, already saddled up on Patrick's back with Abel sitting behind her. "We're gonna go retrieve the rest of the unit now that the way's clear. We'll meet you back in town." She hesitated. "Assuming you can make it?"

"We can make it," Jensen said. "Thanks, Commander."

Cortese steered the horse back in the direction they'd come from and Jared smiled when he caught Abel's despairing question. "Can I vote not to go on any more spirit-hunting missions?"

Jared kind of agreed with the sentiment -- he definitely preferred large, growly monsters to insidious, sneaky ones who disguised themselves as his favorite person -- and he made a mental note to tell Jensen to only take on simple spirit cases in future. Right then, however, he was more focused on staying conscious and horizontal while Jensen retrieved a wineskin from Sadie's saddlebag.

He poured clean water over Jared's wounds. Jared hissed at the contact and then scowled when Jensen ignored him. "You have a crappy bedside manner."

Jensen grinned. "Liar. I'm amazing in bed."

Jared couldn't really argue with that. "You're still a terrible nurse," he said, staring at the leaves above him as Jensen poked and prodded his wounds. The cut along his ribs was heated and tender, sending feverish warmth pulsing through his torso, and Jared looked back down at the memory of Jensen's own injuries. "Hey, are you okay? Those were some hard kicks you took."

Jensen waved it away. "I'll be glad to get to a warm bed tonight but I'm fine."

"You sure?" he asked, tucking an arm under his head to study Jensen's face more intently. "You looked pretty freaked back there. Who did it turn into? Who was the guy with the beard?"

Jensen wouldn't look at him but the flush of his cheeks gave him away. "He's my fiancé," he said carefully. "Or would-be fiancé, I guess. I'm hoping he's forgotten about me by now."

"That was Lord Morgan?" He wrinkled his nose at Jensen's nod. "Well, he looks like an asshole."

Jensen laughed at that as he washed the last of Jared's wounds. "You're obviously an excellent judge of character." He climbed to his feet and held out his hands. "Okay, champ. Let's get you to a tavern so you can judge people's character from the safety of a bed."

Jared let Jensen lead him over to Sadie as he mumbled, "You're awesome, you know that?"

"Thanks, man."

"I'm really glad you're not dead," he said sincerely.

"Me too?" Jensen frowned. "You okay? Are you secretly dying or something?"

"I'm not secretly dying." He didn't want to explore the tangle of emotions the fake Jensen had inspired and so settled on a vague explanation. "I don't know, I'm just happy, I guess. I'm alive, you're alive, we fight crime. It's all good."

"I don't think this technically qualifies as fighting crime," Jensen said. "Mostly we kill things."

"But we kill bad things that are doing crime," Jared said, clambering up onto Sadie's back with some steadying help from Jensen. "It totally counts."

"Whatever you say." Jensen looked up at him with a smile and Jared couldn't resist leaning down to kiss him on the lips. Jensen went with it, rising up on his tiptoes to kiss him back, but he soon dropped back down to his feet as he grabbed the rein.

"No," he said firmly. "No more kissing until you're safe, stitched up, and not prone to infection."

"Y'know, I don't think kisses actually slow down the healing process."

He winced when Jensen smacked him on the thigh but smiled when he took the reins and started to lead them along the path. "You definitely need to work on that bedside manner."

Jensen flipped him off and Jared settled on Sadie's back with a yawn, ready to have a pleasant nap on the way to Pyla in celebration of the lack of fatalities.

As he drifted off to sleep, he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or frustrated that his inadvertent confession of love had been addressed to the fake Jensen instead of the real one.

  


"The medal for bravery goes to Commander Cortese."

Applause rose up throughout the banquet hall and Jared joined in with a whoop as Cortese accepted the medal with a bow. Abel stood beside the lords' table, beaming as he wore his own medal with pride, and Jared shifted from foot to foot in anticipation while he waited for his own name to be called.

"And finally we present our guest this evening with an honorary citizenship for his efforts in safeguarding our town." The presiding lord gestured to Jared with a smile. "We are in your debt, sir."

It was all Jared could do to walk to the front of the hall like a sensible adult instead of bounding along like an excitable toddler. He kept his cool as best he could while applause filled the hall and he ducked into a polite bow before taking the gold medal that was offered to him.

The hall was packed, filled with nobles and regular villagers alike, all of whom were well fed and suitably merry after the impromptu feast that had followed the victory over the spirit. Cleared plates and empty cups littered the tables when Jared turned to face the cheering crowd but he basked in the praise for a long moment before sidling off to join Cortese and Abel in making his way back to his seat. 

The presentation seemed to be the climax of the evening and small groups of people began to trickle out of the hall when Jared dropped back to his seat beside Jensen.

"Congrats," Jensen drawled, more horizontal than vertical as he sat with his feet propped up on a stool. "I'm sure honorary citizenship of Pyla was just what you always wanted."

"Shut up," Jared said, inspecting his shiny new medal. "It's awesome."

Jensen shook his head and took another sip of wine. "You're a magpie."

"You could've been a magpie too," Jared said. That made less sense out loud and so he rephrased, "They would've made you an honorary citizen as well, y'know."

"What can I say, I'm not in this for the rewards," Jensen said with feigned nobility.

Jared let out an undignified snort and then ducked his head when a group of villagers looked in his direction. "Bullshit," he said under his breath. "You love rewards. When they gave us the gold yesterday, you looked like you were about to come in your pants."

"I think you're getting that confused with when you actually made me come in my pants last night," Jensen said. "But yeah, okay, I like rewards. Only the monetary kind though. The public adulation is all yours."

"It's nice," Jared said. "It feels good to help people. Plus this way I get something to show my momma next time I go back home." He dangled the medal in Jensen's face. "See? Accomplishments."

"Gee, I never would've noticed that giant gold medal," Jensen said, batting it away. "I'm happy for you, man, but it's not my thing."

"Am I your thing?" Jared asked, leaning in close.

Jensen laughed. "Definitely."

Tilting his head up to meet his mouth, Jensen closed the distance between them with a soft kiss. The sweetness of wine was still on his lips but from the coordinated slide of his tongue against Jared's and the way his fingers curled easily around the strap of the medal, he didn't seem to be all that drunk yet.

Resisting the urge to tug him into his lap and slide his dick up the crease of Jensen's ass -- that didn't seem like appropriate honorary citizen behavior -- Jared broke away with a groan and settled for resting his hand on Jensen's thigh as he murmured, "You know I couldn't do this without you, right?"

"Please don't tell me I'm stuck with drunk, maudlin Jared," Jensen said, resting his head against Jared's shoulder anyway. "I think I like drunk, handsy Jared more."

"I'm not drunk," Jared said. "And I'm not maudlin. I know I'm getting all the praise and stuff-"

"And medals, and statues, and goats named in your honor."

"And those," he agreed. "But they're yours just as much as mine, even if you don't want them." He kissed his temple. "I know I'm a dick sometimes but this is a team effort. All the way."

Jensen sighed. "Jared…"

"Don't," he said, kissing him quickly on the lips. "You're happy here, right?"

He met Jensen's eyes as he admitted, "Yeah. I'm happy."

"Then stop talking about leaving me eventually and just enjoy it while it lasts." Their lips were inches apart and Jared stroked his thumb over the curve of Jensen's cheekbone when he murmured, "Jensen, I think I lo-"

Jensen's lips were on his before he could get the words out. After a month on the road together, the contact was familiar enough to send heat blossoming through him and Jared let the words dissolve as he sank into the touch. Somehow saying it seemed less important than showing it right now.

Cupping his cheek, he let Jensen pull him down into the kiss. Jensen's lips were hot and smooth, parting easily for Jared's tongue, and before he could regain his senses, Jared found himself settling his leg over Jensen's lap as he pressed their bodies together.

In the distance, someone cleared their throat and Jared pulled back guiltily to see Cortese watching them with one eyebrow raised.

He gave her an apologetic wave and didn't dwell on how pink his cheeks undoubtedly were when he asked Jensen, "You wanna take this somewhere more private?"

"You sure you're up for this? Your injuries-"

"Are fine," Jared promised, motivated by the fact that Jensen looked like he was ready to climb into his lap any second, injuries be damned. "They hurt more last night and we did okay then."

"I'm pretty sure teenagers have more adventurous sex than we managed last night," Jensen pointed out. "You passed out as soon as you came and I thought I'd killed you."

"I promise not to pass out until you come too," Jared teased, running his hand up Jensen's thigh to fit his hand around the curve of his ass. "Come on. Celebratory sex awaits."

Jensen laughed, tipping his head back to let Jared suck a kiss against the side of his neck. "Okay," he said, rolling his hips happily under the blanket of Jared's body. "Sex time."

He patted him on the chest as he wriggled free and got to his feet. Jared joined him and he slid an arm around his hips as they fell into step with the steadily departing flow of people. His chest still ached from the sword wound but the pain in his arm had faded enough that he was pretty sure he could manage more than just lazy rutting once they got back to their room.

Jensen's hand moved down to squeeze his ass as he whispered in his ear, "You're not allowed to wear the medal in bed."

Jared hadn't realized how much he wanted that until it was off the table.

"But it's gold," he said hopefully. "It compliments my skin tone."

Jensen smirked. "More than your dick in my ass?"

"Okay, no," he conceded. "I'll take it off."

He was rewarded with another grope to his ass. "Good choice."

As much as he wanted to wear his shiny new medal during sex, Jared decided that he wanted to actually have sex way more.

  


Pyla was a small town but a wealthy one, with a classier tavern than the ones they usually stayed in, but as Jared locked the door behind him, he was willing to sleep on the least comfortable bed imaginable if it meant having Jensen there with him. Heated through by the wine in his system, he rested his shoulder against the wall for balance while he fumbled with his boots but he paused mid-removal at the sound of Jensen's voice.

"Are you just gonna stand there fondling your boots all night?"

Jared nearly swallowed his tongue when he looked up to see Jensen sprawled out on the bed. He was naked already, his clothes dumped in a messy pile on a chair, and he moved with unabashed confidence as he let his knees fall open to give Jared a clear view of his thickening cock. Even though Jared had fucked him dozens of times over the past month, he couldn't quash the teenage rush of arousal that took his dick from intrigued to overeager in a matter of seconds.

His boots dropped to the floor with a clunk as he walked over to the bed. "I'm done," he promised. "You wanna tell me what I should be fondling next?"

Jensen laughed as he poured oil down over his fingers. It shimmered in the moonlight and Jared's dick twitched helplessly as Jensen lowered his oil-smooth fingers to nudge at his hole.

"Y'know," Jensen began, voice hitching as he worked his fingers inside himself, "if you're gonna stand here and watch me fuck myself open for you, you could at least take your clothes off first."

Jared went to work on the laces of his shirt with a grin. "Always happy to enable ogling."

"You're always happy to participate in it as well," Jensen pointed out. He bit his lip on a moan and, after dropping his shirt to the floor, Jared slid his hand inside his pants to wrap his fingers around his dick when he caught sight of the twist of Jensen's wrist. 

Jensen was open and wet around his fingers, two of them buried knuckle-deep inside his ass as he ground his hips up into the touch, and Jared couldn't hide his whimper.

He managed to take his hand off his dick long enough to work his pants down his legs. He was over on the bed in an instant, slotting himself between Jensen's legs and pressing him down to the pillows as he kissed him. One hand padded the back of his skull and the other dropped down to close around Jensen's cock, pulling a pleased exhale from him with the first stroke.

His fingers had barely slipped free of his ass when Jared moved in. His dick crowded up against his hole, the thick head of it slick with oil and pre-come as it rested against Jensen's ass, and Jared met Jensen's eyes as he held him there a moment longer.

"C'mon, man," Jensen gasped, pushing himself down on Jared's dick. "Get-"

Shifting his grip to Jensen's thigh, Jared tugged hard. Jensen yelped in surprise as he was flipped over onto his front but he caught on quick enough to support himself on his elbows and spread his thighs wide. Jared's dick found his hole again and he curled his arm around Jensen's hips to drag him backwards onto his cock at the same time as he guided himself in.

Jensen cried out at the sudden fullness and Jared paused to get control of himself. Jensen's ass was slick and tight around him, stretched wide around Jared's dick, but any worries Jared had about going too fast were assuaged when Jensen arched his back with a contented moan. He rocked forward, fucking himself on Jared's dick, and Jared leaned in to drop a kiss against the back of his neck before going to work.

Moonlight rolled down Jensen's spine like water as he offered himself up on the bed. It caught the muscle of his shoulders, the shine of the old burn and the round of his ass, and Jared fitted his hands greedily to the curve of Jensen's hips as he set a steady pace.

Dropping his head down, Jensen buried his face in the pillow to muffle his groan when Jared ran a spit-slick hand up and down the length of his dick. Jared pushed in harder, making Jensen jolt forward with the slap of Jared's balls against his ass, and he teased, "Come on, baby, let me hear you."

Jensen spread his thighs wider and rolled his hips back into Jared's thrusts even as he glowered at him over his shoulder. "Baby? Really?"

"Sweetheart?" Jared tried. "Honey-pie?"

Jensen laughed as he settled back on his elbows. "You know 'Jensen' is a totally acceptable name, right? It's worked well for years now."

In spite of Jared's terrible attempts at nicknames, he still sounded happy and Jared made a mental note for future reference that it was best to test out possible terms of endearment during sex. 

Adjusting his grip on Jensen's dick, Jared stripped it faster by way of apology. It did the trick and Jensen shivered, clenching around Jared's cock before breathing out in a sigh. "God, right there."

"Yes, Jensen."

He grinned at Jensen's groan and repeated it with every thrust in, "Jensen, Jensen, Jensen."

Jensen laughed as he pushed his ass back to meet Jared's strokes. "Not that I don't appreciate you sayin' my name but how about you focus on what you're doing with your dick instead?" He lifted his foot to tap his heel against Jared's ass. "Giddy-up."

"How am I the horse in this scenario?"

His complaint was half-hearted at best and he couldn't bring himself to prolong the inquiry when Jensen ground back to let him bottom out inside him. He arched his back, sliding forward into the ring of Jared's fingers as much as his position would allow, and Jared timed his movements to Jensen's with ease.

He'd been half-hard since the end of the feast and it didn't take long before heat began to flood through him, lighting his nerves and making sweat roll down his collarbone. Jensen groaned beneath him, held open wide on Jared's dick while he fucked into the tight clench of his ass harder and harder, and Jared did his best to hold off as he worked Jensen's dick.

His wounds from the day before burned from the strain but they faded out of focus with the build of pressure low in his belly. Jensen had apparently given up on discretion since his pleased moans were loud enough for half the town to hear as Jared switched to slower, deeper thrusts in an attempt to hold off longer.

His efforts proved worthwhile when he felt Jensen come with a yell. He shuddered through it, open and moaning and drenched in sweat, and even if Jared hadn't already been close, that would've been enough to carry him through. He spilled deep into Jensen's ass with a wordless groan before slumping down on top of him to gasp for air.

His release was well-earned and Jared couldn't bring himself to do much more than slip out of Jensen and drop to the bed next to him once he'd regained some of his faculties. Jensen collapsed too, panting but sated, and Jared sprawled out on the sheets while Jensen gave himself a lazy wipedown.

Too sweaty and exhausted to move, Jared cracked an eye open when Jensen lay down on the pillow beside him. "You good?"

It was more of a grunt than a question. Jensen's response was indecipherable but his tone was definitely that of a guy who'd been well-fucked and was very happy about that. (Jared had come to recognize that tone well over the past month.)

Happy that Jensen was happy, Jared slung an arm over his back before dropping into sleep. 

They could save the A-grade post-sex cuddling for another day.

  


The first thing Jared heard the next morning was what sounded like the tavern collapsing around him.

"What the fuck?" he groaned, smushing his face into the pillow in the hopes that the noise would leave him alone. "The fuck is that?"

Jensen possibly wasn't the best person to ask, given that he probably wanted to move even less than Jared did after the exercise of the previous evening, but at least he was awake enough to offer a slurred answer. "I think there's someone at the door." He nudged Jared in the ribs. "Go get it."

"You go get it," he retorted. "M'sleeping."

"So am I," Jensen said, unmoving. "You're the champion. Go conquer the door."

"You're the sidekick," Jared said. "Go do recon and see who it is."

The second nudge to his ribs was even sharper and Jared blinked his eyes open with a wince as the hammering on the door continued. "Fine," he muttered. "You owe me."

"I'll suck your dick when I wake up," Jensen said sleepily. His brow creased with tired distaste at the solid thumps to the door. "Now make it be quiet."

Pulling himself out of bed, Jared grimaced at his protesting muscles and wrapped one of the sheets around his hips as he went to greet the person who thought it was a good idea to try to break his door down that early in the morning.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'," he called as he crossed the room. "Hold your horses."

The banging on the door didn't let up and as Jared unlocked it and pulled it open, he really hoped he wasn't about to get punched in the face by accident.

When the door opened to reveal Lord Morgan on the other side, Jared revised those hopes to include not getting punched in the face on purpose.

Acting out of protective instinct, Jared immediately pulled the door closed to hide Jensen from view. If Morgan had shown up to retrieve his future husband, he probably wouldn't be too happy to find said husband naked in Jared's bed. "C-Can I help you?"

Morgan eyed him coldly. "You can open the door," he said. "Unless you want to find yourself charged with kidnapping."

"Kidnapping?" Jared blinked, incredulous. "You're the one who abducted him!"

Morgan's smile was small but cruel. "So he is here then?"

Jared gulped. "What? No. Who? I'm totally alone here."

Morgan narrowed his eyes. He kicked the door open before Jared could stop him, and Jared looked around to see Jensen frozen in place, half-dressed and open-mouthed as he looked at Morgan.

"Ah." Morgan smiled darkly. "Not so alone, I see." He took a step forward, and shoved Jared aside as he addressed Jensen, "I've been looking for you for a long time, boy."

Jensen backed up as Morgan approached. He was wide-eyed and terrified and Jared's stomach did an unpleasant little flip at the sight of Jensen looking so scared. "H-How did you find me?"

Morgan smirked. "I'm a powerful man, Jensen. You didn't think I'd let you run forever, did you?" He reached over to grab Jensen's discarded shirt and threw it at him. "Get dressed," he ordered, looking around the bedroom. "If any of this crap is yours, gather it up. We're leaving in five minutes."

Pulling on the shirt, Jensen retreated against the wall as he shook his head. "No," he said weakly. "Not again. Please, I don't want this."

He jumped when Morgan moved in. Grabbing the front of his shirt, Morgan slammed him back against the wall hard enough to make the bed rattle and Jared winced at the thump of Jensen's head against the wood.

"I don't recall asking your opinion," Morgan said, his voice dangerously calm. His hand curled around Jensen's upper arm, holding him in close. "You're mine, boy. You've been mine since the first time I set eyes on you in that shitty little village. Hell, you should be grateful that I'll still take you after you've been whoring yourself out to some peasant. A lot of men wouldn't be so forgiving."

"Hey!" Regaining his wits, Jared stepped forward. He was uncomfortably aware of his lack of weapons and clothing but spoke up nonetheless, "You can't just take him away like this."

"He's betrothed to me," Morgan said. "I can do what I like with him."

"He's not your property! You don't get to just keep him like a pet!"

Morgan stroked his fingers through Jensen's hair but Jared started when he grabbed him hard by the back of the neck, making Jensen stumble as he pulled him forward. "I get to keep him however I want," he said, as placid as if he were just stating a fact. "I intend to marry him and keep him as my husband, but if I wanted to chain him up in the courtyard like a dog, I would be well within my rights." 

Jensen cried out as he was dragged another few steps across the room but Morgan ignored him."This isn't your business, boy," he told him. "However many times you've had your dick in him, he still belongs to me. You'd do well to remember that and to move on. Count yourself lucky I'm not charging you for use."

Jensen flinched at that, his gaze darting over to his supposed fiancé, but Morgan's grip on his neck didn't let up until he shoved him back over to the bed. "Get your things together," he ordered. "Now. I remember how much you didn't like it when my men helped you out."

The terrified expression never left Jensen's face but Jared's heart sank when he picked himself up off the bed and began to gather up his clothes. 

It was one thing to have Jensen's shady fiancé show up the morning after Jared had (sort of) admitted to being in love with him. It was another to have Jensen willingly leave with the shady fiancé in question.

"Hey," he said, squaring his shoulders. It seemed best to approach the situation as though Morgan was a particularly unpleasant troll. "He said he didn't want to go with you."

Morgan turned on him but Jensen was between the two of them before either of them could make a move.

"Jared, don't." Splaying a hand on his chest, Jensen looked up at him sadly. "I'm so sorry."

"No," Jared said, looking between Jensen and Morgan. "You don't need to go with him. We're happy together, right? Say no. Stay with me."

"I can't," Jensen said. He looked wretched but that didn't make his choice any easier for Jared to swallow. "He's got soldiers, Jared."

"We can fight soldiers…"

"Not this many," Jensen said. "Not without you getting hurt."

Jared ran a hand through his hair, struggling to process what he was hearing. "You can't just give in like this, man. You really want to be trapped with this asshole for the rest of your life?"

Jensen gave a tiny shrug as he tried to put a brave face on it. "We knew I'd have to leave eventually, right?"

As far as brave faces went, it was pretty terrible.

"Not like this," Jared pleaded. "Come on, Jensen, you're better than this. You're better than him."

A dry smile flitted across Jensen's lips and it sounded as though he really believed it when he said, "No, I'm not." His eyes were huge and sad as he looked up at him, which made Jared feel even worse when he tried for a smile. "You'll be fine without me. Look on the bright side, you won't even have to split the rewards anymore."

He turned away with one final pat to Jared's chest and quickly tidied his clothes and his share of the reward away in his pack. The bag looked tiny over his shoulder, a pathetic compilation of all their time spent together, and Jared moved to stand between Jensen and the doorway when he went to leave.

Morgan's hand was on the back of Jensen's neck, firm and controlling, and Jared was embarrassingly aware of the difference between the finery of his clothes and the bed sheet that was currently wrapped around his own hips. 

"Out of the way, boy," Morgan said, not taking his hand off Jensen's neck.

The 'or else' hung in the air but Jensen stepped between the two of them before Morgan could issue any actual threats.

"Come on, Jared," he said softly. "I know we had a good month, but it's over."

"It doesn't have to be."

"Yes, it does," Jensen said with a weak smile. "Let me go, man."

Jared shook his head and stayed put in the doorway. "No. Not when you don't want to."

Jensen sighed. "Jared…"

"Enough," Morgan barked, tugging Jensen forward. He shoved Jared back, sending him tumbling against the wall, and pulled the door open to haul Jensen through. "Stay away if you know what's good for you," he warned, fixing Jared with a dark stare. "You come after us and I'll make Jensen dig the grave for your corpse."

Jared hesitated at that, feeling sick at the mental picture of Jensen being forced to bury his body. His pause was apparently all Morgan needed to sweep out of the room, dragging Jensen with him.

Jared wasn't sure what he was thinking when he grabbed some gloves from the dresser and chased down the hallway after them.

"Hey!"

Morgan spun back around, brow creased in anger, and Jared came the closest he'd ever been to an out of body experience when he raised his arm to smack Morgan across the face with the gloves. "I challenge you to a duel!"

Jensen and Morgan's mouths fell open at the same time.

Jared decided to interpret that as a positive sign. He straightened up as he repeated, "A duel. Swords only, today at noon. Winner gets Jensen."

Morgan looked incredulous but Jensen put himself in front of him before he could say yes or no. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Fighting for you," Jared said, as proudly as he could given that he was still only wearing a sheet. "I'm not letting him take you away like this. Not when I can do something to stop it."

"You _can't_ do something to stop it," Jensen said, desperate. "No-one can. Please, just call it off, Jared."

"No." He looked past him to where Morgan was standing, stunned. "What's the matter, Morgan?" he taunted. "You too afraid to fight for what you want?"

"Jared…" 

"You chicken or something?" he asked, ignoring Jensen in favor of smirking at Morgan. "Guess I should've known that a guy who has to rely on kidnapping to score a husband is too much of a coward to pick up a sword and fight."

"Stop it," Jensen pleaded. "Back off, Jared, please. You don't wanna do this."

"I really do," Jared said, fired up with confidence in the face of Morgan's reluctance. "I just didn't think your fiancé here would be too pathetic to fight me. What's the matter, Morgan? You accidentally leave your balls behind when you came to steal yourself a husband?"

Morgan chuckled at that, low and dark, and he met Jared's eyes. "Okay."

Jensen's eyes went wide. "What? No, you can't-"

"A duel it is," Morgan said, amused. "Let's go right now, boy. Dress yourself and get your sword. I'll meet you on the north side of town in thirty minutes."

"Morgan, don't-"

"Make it twenty," Jared said cockily. 

"You can't just fight over me-"

"Twenty it is," Morgan agreed, ignoring Jensen's objections. "Jensen stays with me until then."

"You think I trust you not to run with him?" Jared said. "He stays with me."

"Because you have such a good track record with keeping your hands off another man's property," he said sarcastically. He caught Jensen's wrist in his hand and pulled him with him as he walked to the door. "He stays with me. If you want him, dress yourself and meet me for the duel." He sneered. "Jensen will be waiting."

Jensen could barely get out a shout of "No!" before Morgan hauled him out of the tavern, and Jared turned to run back to his room. Nervous excitement coursed through him at the prospect of getting Jensen away from Morgan for good (and also at the prospect of fighting his first official duel) and he readied himself as fast as possible.

He'd made it through a haunted forest with his life and all important extremities intact. He was pretty sure he could take down one spoiled lord.

  


There was a clearing in the forest on the north side of town.

The sun had climbed in the sky, dancing off the wisps of lingering clouds, and as Jared made his way through the narrow cluster of trees, he was pleased to see that the clearing was light and empty ahead of him. Morgan was there, waiting in the shadows past the tree line, but otherwise the circle of the woods around them gave them a measure of privacy from the eyes of the village.

Jared drew his sword from its sheath and stepped forward into the sunlight.

"You ready?" he asked, twirling his sword in his hand. "If you want to back out now, I promise not to tell anyone."

Morgan smirked. "Oh, I'm in, boy."

Jensen grabbed his arm when he took a step forward. Jared was too far away to hear the whispers that passed between them but from the worried expression on Jensen's face, Jared guessed he still wasn't on board with the idea of the duel.

He didn't get to protest further, however, when Morgan pushed his way past him into the clearing.

Without his heavy coat on, his clothes were more practical than Jared would've expected from a lord. His pants and boots were similar to Jared's and his shirt and vest, while well-fitted, seemed to be designed for function rather than fashion. His sword looked surprisingly well-used as he pulled it from its sheath and for the first time, Jared's confidence faltered a little.

"You don't need to duel over me!" Jensen called from the trees. "Letting me choose what I want is always a good option!"

Knowing he would choose to go with Morgan, if only to try to save Jared's life, Jared shook his head as he and Morgan circled each other. "Sorry, Jensen," he called back. "Once I kick his ass, you can choose whether or not you wanna stay with me."

He glanced over long enough to see Jensen sink down to sit on a fallen log, head in his hands, but refocused his attention on Morgan as he asked, "How do you want to do this?"

Morgan raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me this isn't your first time fighting a duel."

"This isn't my first time," Jared lied. "I'm just trying to be polite."

Morgan looked skeptical but shrugged as he adjusted his grip on the sword. "On three?"

Jared nodded and began the countdown. "One."

Morgan joined in. "Two."

Jensen lifted his head to watch proceedings when Jared and Morgan said together, "Three."

Following his usual life tactics, Jared made the first move. He lunged forward, bringing his sword up from right to left instead of in the expected slash downward, but Morgan jumped out of the way before the sword could make contact with flesh. 

He raised his sword in return, slicing at Jared with three fast but graceless strokes, which Jared danced back to avoid before ducking down and sweeping his leg against Morgan's ankles. Morgan's weight had been behind the strikes to Jared's body so the kick to his ankles caught him off-balance, and Jared rolled out of the way as he crashed to the ground with a groan.

Morgan smiled colorlessly as he pushed himself to his feet, wiping the dirt off his palms and raising his sword as they circled each other again. "Nice moves," he said, not without sincerity. "You're better than I gave you credit for."

Jared gave a teasing little bow. "You're better than I thought you would be as well," he admitted. "Still not good enough to stop me wiping the floor with you though. Hell, I bet Jensen could kick your ass if he tried."

"How about neither of you kick any ass?" Jensen asked from the sidelines.

Jared barely had time to roll his eyes before Morgan attacked again. He led with the sword in a move that was obvious enough to let Jared duck beneath it but he followed it up with an elbow to Jared's gut.

Jared doubled up, winded, but looked up in time to shift out of the way of the blade that was aimed for his shoulder. His stomach ached from the blow and Jared gave in to the heated flow of anger as he parried Morgan's blow and pushed him backward.

Morgan stumbled and Jared pressed the advantage, remembering the evenings spent sparring with Jensen in their camp as he brought his blade down again and again. He forced Morgan to parry just to avoid getting hit as he drove him backward, landing blows with his feet, fists, and elbows between sword strikes. Morgan tripped, slipping over a fallen branch, and only just rolled out of the way in time to avoid taking a blade to the shoulder.

Jared grinned, pleased by his success, and pushed on as Jensen yelled from the tree line, "No! Don't kill him!"

Flat on his back, Morgan wiped the back of his hand over his bloody nose and glared up at Jared. He was bruised from the hits Jared had landed but still sounded stunned at the fact that Jared was beating him when he said with a snarl, "You're making a mistake, boy."

"I don't know," Jared mocked, strolling over to stand above him. "You sure you're not getting me confused with yourself?" He held the tip of his sword under Morgan's chin. "Things are going pretty well up here."

Morgan laughed. "Don't count on that."

"Morgan!" Jensen shouted but Jared couldn't tell whether it was a plea or a warning.

He didn't risk looking away but was still caught by surprise when Morgan kicked out hard, knocking Jared to the side long enough for him to get to his feet. Jared brandished his sword, ready to repeat his earlier moves in order to get Morgan down on the ground again, but was taken aback when Morgan drove forward with a swift, skilled thrust which Jared barely managed to dodge.

The clash of their swords sounded out above Jensen's pleas for them to stop. Jared struggled to keep pace with the thrusts and parries and found himself losing ground as Morgan bore down on him.

The impact of a tree against his back caught him off-guard. Not realizing he'd been backed up that far, he lashed out in panic but found himself clutching at nothing but air when a well-placed kick knocked his sword right out of his hand.

With the tree behind him, Jared had nowhere to hide when Morgan's fist came down hard.

Pain lit up his jaw from the force of the punch and Jared dropped to the ground when Morgan followed it up with two more, slamming his fists into his cheek and jaw. His teeth cut into his lip and Jared coughed up spit and blood into the dirt as Morgan kicked him in the gut. 

His nose and cheek throbbed hotly. He didn't think they were broken but that wasn't much comfort as he choked and gagged on the blood running down his throat from his aching nose. He curled an arm over his stomach in a weak attempt at protecting himself but couldn't do much more than groan when Morgan gave him a light kick on the hip to roll him onto his back.

The sun was painfully bright when he cracked his eyes open to see Morgan standing over him, sword still in hand, and Jared closed them again a second later. It was his death -- he could meet it however he wanted.

Sending a mental apology to Jensen for his failure, Jared tasted the tang of his own blood as he braced for the final strike of the sword.

He wondered what the least painful place to get fatally stabbed would be.

"Stop it! God, stop!"

Jared frowned. From the hoarse frustration of Jensen's voice, he'd been yelling the same thing for a while and Jared cracked his eyes open again to see Jensen shove Morgan hard in the chest, pushing him back away from Jared.

"Stop!" he ordered. "You won already! Fuck, Jeff, you don't need to beat him to death to prove a fucking point!"

"He was winning," Morgan said, looking past him to Jared. "I had to do something."

"And you couldn't think of anything that didn't involve kicking the shit out of him?"

"He'll be fine," Morgan said. "No lasting damage, I promise."

"I can't believe you agreed to a fucking duel," Jensen muttered, shoving his way past him. "You and your goddamn ego."

Jared's head pounded with every movement, even one as small as a blink, and he gasped at the pain as he struggled to prop himself up on his elbows. "Jensen?"

His voice was slurred, courtesy of the split lip and the throbbing headache. He blinked past the bleariness in his vision as Jensen hurried over to kneel beside him.

"Hey," Jensen said, reaching out to touch his bruised cheek. "You're gonna be okay. There's nothing that won't heal." 

"I lost," Jared mumbled, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Jensen. I-"

Jensen's fingers moved to his lips as he murmured, "It's okay. You were always going to lose."

Jared's brow creased. "What?" Morgan moved closer, blocking out part of the sun as he looked down at him, and Jared glanced between the two of them as sick realization started to dawn. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry," Jensen said softly. "I'm so sorry, Jared. I didn't want this to happen."

"Want what to happen?" Some more of the fog cleared from his head as he propped himself up a little higher. Morgan was standing behind Jensen, close enough that his knee was touching Jensen's back, and Jared swallowed hard at the easy contact between them. "You weren't kidnapped, were you?"

"I was kidnapped," Jensen said, meeting his eyes. "Just not by Jeff."

Jared looked up at Morgan -- _Jeff_ , apparently -- to see his glare had been replaced by an apologetic shrug.

"You're not his fiancé?" he asked hoarsely.

"No," Jensen admitted. "He isn't a lord either."

The life Jared had built for himself over the past month (and the life he'd wanted to keep living for years to come) started to shake apart around him as he asked, stunned, "Is any of it true? Everything you told me about your life, your childhood. Is any of it true?" He laughed hollowly as a thought occurred. "Is Jensen even your real name?"

"It's my real name," Jensen said. "Almost everything I told you was true. I was an apprentice blacksmith and I did get kidnapped by a lord who wanted to marry me." He looked sheepish as he added, "Except I was eighteen when that happened."

"Eighteen," Jared repeated, mentally counting off the number of years of Jensen's life he now knew nothing about. "Who are you?" He looked up at Morgan. "Who the hell is he?"

"He's my partner."

"Partner?" Jared wanted to throw up. "You've been with someone else this whole time?"

"Not like that," Jensen said quickly. "We just work together. It's not like how things were between me and you."

Jared regretted asking the question as soon as the words left his lips. "What kind of work?"

Jensen held his gaze. "I'm a thief, Jared."

Jared stared at him. "A thief."

"If it helps any, we only steal from people if they're assholes," Morgan chimed in, sounding unreasonably cheerful for someone who'd been beating the crap out of Jared five minutes earlier.

Jensen evidently shared this view since he looked up at Morgan with a scowl. "Not helping here, man."

"You're a thief," Jared repeated, trying and failing to process what was happening. "So when I met you in the woods…"

"We'd been working a job," Jensen said. "Stealing from a corrupt lord down near the Long Lakes. We got caught before we could finish and so we split up and ran. That's when you found me."

"And him?"

Guilt flickered through Jensen's eyes. "We have contingency plans," he said. "Plans for what to do if we get caught or separated. When we were in Parin, I sent a message to Jeff telling him to meet me in Pyla in a month's time as 'Lord Morgan'. He makes a good bad guy. and I figured that would be long enough to give us both time to lose anyone who was chasing us." He glanced back at Morgan. "I didn't think he'd show up when we were still in bed together but I guess that's life."

"Why did you come with me?" The events of his time with Jensen had been shaken up and resettled into a new shape, leaving Jared with the sharp, hot burn of humiliation in his chest at being played for a fool for so long. "If you were just waiting to go back to being a thief, why did you travel with me? Why did you-" _Let me fall in love with you_ stuck on his tongue and he swallowed it down. "Why were you with me?"

"Because you asked me," Jensen said quietly. "Because I wanted to be. I like you, Jared." 

Jared laughed bitterly and Jensen lowered his eyes, ashamed. "I know you have no reason to believe me," he said, "but I really did like traveling with you, Jared. I didn't want this to happen."

His innocent act sparked a new reserve of anger inside Jared. "What did you think would happen?" he asked, hurt and furious. "You think I would just let you get taken away by a guy who kidnapped you?"

"I didn't think we'd be together that long," Jensen said. "I thought you'd get sick of me before I reached Pyla, and then I thought Jeff would be enough to scare you off." He winced in sympathy as he reached out to brush Jared's bruises. "I never thought it would come to this."

With a final squeeze of Jared's shoulder, he pushed himself to his feet and stepped back to stand next to Morgan. "I'm so sorry, Jared."

Hot tears stung Jared's eyes but he blinked them back as he sank down to his elbows again. His face throbbed from the punches and sullen resentment lingered in his gut at the sight of his blood staining Morgan's knuckles.

"You're leaving," he said blankly.

Jensen nodded. "I'm sorry," he said again. "For everything. You're a good guy, Jared. You don't deserve this."

"It's my own fault for being dumb enough to trust you," Jared said. He was beaten, humiliated, and hurting, and didn't have the energy to deal with the twist of guilt that crossed Jensen's face. "Just go. You've made your point."

"Jared…"

"Go," he snapped. "Leave me alone, Jensen."

Jensen looked like he wanted to protest but Jared was thankful to see him stay quiet. He settled for a quick nod in his direction before he turned back to Morgan. The pounding of Jared's head was too loud for him to catch their whispers to each other but he figured he didn't need to when Jensen and Morgan turned and walked away together.

He kept his composure when Jensen looked back over his shoulder one final time but as soon as they passed the thicket of trees to leave the clearing, Jared let himself slump to the ground.

The only bright side to the clusterfuck that was currently his life was that no-one was there to judge him if he allowed himself to cry a little.

  


After two weeks on the road alone, Jared was forced to come to the conclusion that being a dashing adventurer was much less enjoyable without company.

He wanted to be able to claim that it didn't bother him, that he was a competent and capable traveler who definitely did not need a thief sidekick to help him out with everything from map-reading to combat skills, but as he moved from village to village, he couldn't help but miss Jensen.

His feelings towards him were still a complicated tangle of hurt and betrayal -- as much as he missed him, Jared couldn't handwave the fact that their entire relationship had been mixed through with Jensen's lies -- but the longer he spent on his own, the more he started to wish Jensen was there.

When he ended up knee-deep in a nest full of imps outside Hylinta, he really, really wished Jensen was there.

"Kill them! Please kill them!"

The shrieks of the imps' portly victim filled the cave as Jared waded forward, slicing through the blue swarm of imps as quickly as he could. They came faster than he could fight them off, wave upon wave of sharp little limbs and fiendish cackles, and Jared gritted his teeth as their victim -- the local baker who'd had the bright idea to invite the imps into his shop -- screamed, "They're stabbing me with their noses! Make them stop, make them stop!"

As distracting as the shouting was, Jared had to admit that complaints of nose-stabbing were at least original.

The imps shrieked with every swing and thrust of Jared's sword and Jared shouted over the noise, "I'm trying!"

The response sounded suspiciously like the imps were laughing at him, and Jared enjoyed the small hit of satisfaction when he kicked a couple of them in the face while pulling the flask from his belt.

"Help me!" the victim screeched. "Please!"

Stomping on a couple of imps who were trying to gnaw through his boots, Jared shook out the contents of the flask onto the cave floor. He fumbled for a flint with his left hand while chopping at the waves of imps with the sword in his right. His fingers finally closed around the rock, however, and he yelled, "Take cover!"

In an ideal world, the baker would've listened to him and immediately tucked himself up in a ball to protect his face and/or genitals. However, as Jensen had so thoroughly demonstrated, this was not an ideal world and Jared breathed out through clenched teeth when the baker shouted, "Take cover? From what? How am I supposed to take cover?"

Hoping that his self-preservation instincts would kick in when it came to it, Jared ignored his shouts in favor of taking down another line of imps. (Going by the lack of bodies, he wasn't sure he was actually killing them but hitting them with a sword was apparently a good way to make them retreat.)

Kicking out to clear a space in front of him, Jared dropped the flint to the ground and raised his sword as he made one final attempt at being a responsible hero. "Watch out!"

He was already bringing the sword down when the baker bellowed in response, "For what?"

The rock cracked beneath the force of his strike. The impact of metal on flint was enough to send sparks skittering off and Jared stumbled back when they caught the potion that he'd poured on the ground, lighting up the cave with orange flames.

The imps squealed, flooding back into the recesses of the cave almost as quickly as they'd emerged. Jared looked over the fire to see the dazed baker cowering from the retreating imps.

"You're safe now," he said, "but we need to get out of here before the fire goes out and they come back. Come on."

The baker stared at him. "You want me to run through fire?!"

"No." Jared sighed. "C'mon, man. I want you to jump over the fire."

"You're insane," the baker said, more to himself than to Jared. "Oh, God, I'm being rescued by an insane person. You're going to stab me and eat me, aren't you?"

"That really wasn't on my agenda-"

"Oh, God," he said again, pacing back and forth behind the flames. "I should've been nicer to that old crone who came by last week, even if she did try to kidnap my cat. She probably cursed me. Do you think she cursed me?"

"I-"

"I should've just given her the cat. But he's my favorite and he doesn't like-"

"Hey!" Jared cut in. "You're not cursed! Okay, yeah, inviting imps into your shop wasn't the greatest plan ever but no-one cursed you. You're going to be fine -- you just need to do a tiny little jump over the fire so we can leave. The imps shouldn't come after you again."

The baker eyed the flames again. "But it's hot."

"It's fire," Jared said patiently. "It's supposed to be hot."

As much as he was trying to keep his mind on the job, he couldn't help but think it would've been easier if Jensen was there to yell at idiots on his behalf. The 'good hero, bad hero' tactic had served them well in the past.

"Just jump," he pleaded. "You'll be fine, I promise." He offered a smile. "A little heat's gotta be better than being stabbed by imps, right?"

That seemed to do the trick. Jared took a step back as the baker moved closer to the fire and he fixed his most encouraging smile on his face. "That's it. That's great. Now just take a quick leap over and-"

For a guy who'd been so afraid of fire, Jared was kind of impressed by just how fast the guy barreled through the flames towards him. He was less impressed by being flattened against the cave floor with a flailing, screaming baker on top of him but he decided it still counted as a win.

"It's okay!" he yelled. "You're okay!" He peered down to check neither of them were on fire. "You made it!"

"I made it," the baker repeated faintly. "I made it! Oh, God, thank you!"

The baker's lips were on his before Jared could say a word and he wriggled helplessly beneath the guy's bulk as he endured a very thorough kiss of gratitude.

He was desperate for air by the time the baker pulled back. He patted him on the shoulder as he gasped for breath. "You're welcome?"

Thankfully the baker rolled off him and Jared staggered to his feet to follow him out of the cave while the fire flickered behind them. The imps' shrieks faded once he made it out into the open air and Jared sheathed his sword and set his back against the boulder at the cave's entrance to roll it back into place.

It shifted into place with a grinding scrape of stone against stone and Jared tipped his head back with a relieved sigh. Plans involving mysterious flammable liquids were not usually his favorite.

"Oh, God!"

Jared's heart sank at the baker's panicked squeak and he opened his eyes to see the guy scuttling backwards towards him as he pointed to the woods. "There's something there!" He looked up at Jared, eyes wide and cheeks pink. "Is it the chief imp? Has it come for me?"

Jared relaxed as soon as he saw the horse moving through the trees.

"It's not the chief imp," he said. "I don't think imps even have chiefs." The horse came closer and Jared squinted in an effort to see the rider among the branches. "It's just a guy on a horse…"

He trailed off in disbelief when he got a better look at the rider. 

His sword was in his hand before the horse had even cleared the trees and he ignored the baker's frightened yelp as he called across the clearing, "What the fuck do you want?"

Morgan's lips quirked up in a smile as he brought his horse to a halt. "Guess I don't qualify for a warm welcome, huh?"

Jared didn't lower the sword. "That's what happens when you're a lying sack of shit."

"I, uh- I'm gonna go," the baker stammered. He patted Jared on the thigh as he pulled himself up off the ground and retreated towards the trees. "Thanks!"

He took off at speed, disappearing into the forest before he could say anything in reply, and Jared turned his attention back to Morgan. 

The guy looked exhausted. His face was streaked with dirt and bruises, and Jared could see dried blood caked into his beard from a deep cut to his cheek. There were dark circles under his eyes and from the way his fingers gripped the horn of the saddle, it was clear that it was about the only thing keeping him upright.

He was a pitiful sight but Jared couldn't summon up that much sympathy for a guy who'd kicked his ass and stolen his boyfriend the last time they'd met.

"What are you doing here, Morgan?" he asked, keeping his sword raised as he glanced around him. "Should I be expecting Jensen to jump out of a tree any second?"

Morgan shook his head. "Jensen's not with me." Despite his obvious exhaustion, his voice stayed steady. "He's in trouble."

Jared's gut absolutely did not tighten a little at that announcement.

"He lies to people for a living," Jared said. "Trouble seems like a common by-product."

"Not like this."

Shaking his head, Jared sheathed his sword and turned to leave. "Leave me alone, Morgan. I'm done being part of Jensen's stupid games."

"It's not a game!"

The vehemence of Morgan's protest took him by surprise and Jared turned back around as Morgan eased his horse a few more steps forward. "You think I want to be here?" he asked. "Believe me, kid, you are the last person I wanna come groveling to, but I don't have any other options right now."

Jared sneered at him. "What, you mean people aren't lining up to be friends with a pair of thieves? I'm shocked."

Morgan's humble approach only lasted so long. "You arrogant little-"

" _I'm_ arrogant?" Jared raised his eyebrows. "This from the asshole who beat me up for kicks and then expects me to help him?"

"Kid-"

"No!" Jared snapped. "You're a thief. You're both thieves and liars and I can't think of one reason why I'd trust a single word that comes out of your mouth." He swallowed down some of his anger and kept his voice level. "Jensen already played me for a fool once. I'm not about to let him do it again."

Morgan's expression softened at that and Jared was pleased to catch a flicker of guilt when he said, "Look, kid-"

"Jared."

"Jared," he corrected. "I'm sorry, all right? I didn't mean the duel to go that far. I hadn't seen Jensen in weeks -- I was worried about him and then you were with him and you were so goddamn cocky-"

Jared raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry," Morgan said again. "I really am. And I can't speak for Jensen but from the way he's been mooning over you, I'm guessing he's sorry too." He guided the horse closer, still barely staying upright. "You can hate me all you want, kid. You can hate Jensen too -- from what I heard, he probably deserves it -- but do you really wanna see him dead?"

Jared's anger burned out in a flash. "Dead?"

"You don't sound too excited at the prospect."

"What happened?" he asked. "Where is he?"

"You remember Jensen telling you we were working a job down by the Long Lakes before he met you?"

Jensen's explanations had taken place right after he'd had his ass handed to him but Jared was pretty sure he'd got the gist. "Yeah. Some corrupt lord, right?"

"Lord Welliver," Morgan said with a grimace. "He rules a city called Dolona. We tried to take him down a while back but ended up having to run before he could catch us."

"That's when I met Jensen."

"Right. We figured that after a month or so Welliver would've stopped looking for us. We thought it would be safe to travel together again." His expression was grim. "Turns out we were wrong."

Jared's heart started to sink. "They caught you."

"They caught Jensen," Morgan said. "Welliver must've hired mercenaries or something. They tracked us down three days ago."

Jared swallowed. "They took him?"

Morgan nodded. "We tried to fight but there were too many of them. I barely got away."

"And what, you just left him there to be killed?" Jared narrowed his eyes. "Some partner you are, huh?"

Morgan recoiled at that and Jared watched his gaze drop to the blood that covered his split knuckles. 

"I tried," he said tightly. "I even doubled back to follow them but they took him straight to Welliver. Hell, the only reason he's still alive right now is because Welliver wants to know where I am."

"So go turn yourself in," Jared said. "If you care as much as you say you do, you'd give yourself up to save him."

Morgan smiled. "Believe me, kid, I'd surrender in a heartbeat if I thought Welliver wouldn't execute us both as soon as I did." 

He scrubbed a hand over his beard as he admitted, "Dolona's my hometown. Jensen and me, we went after Welliver because I couldn't let him keep treating his people the way he does. My mother's there, and so's my brother, my nephews, my baby niece… I can't risk them getting hurt if I hand myself over but if I run, Welliver's gonna lose patience and kill Jensen anyway." He looked up at him, exhausted and desperate. "I need your help, Jared."

Keeping himself alive was enough of a challenge most of the time and Jared faltered at the thought of more people's lives depending on him. "I- I don't know," he said. "I fight imps, man. I wanna help but bringing down a lord? I don't want to get people killed."

"You won't," Morgan promised. "Look, I know you're mad at Jensen for what he did to you but he doesn't deserve to die. You can have all the credit, take all the rewards, I don't care. Just help me with this. Please, Jared."

Even with what he knew about him, Jared couldn't deny that Morgan sounded sincere in his pleas. In spite of his better judgment, he found himself stepping forward to take the horse's reins. 

"What do I need to do?"

  


Priestly disguises, Jared decided, were not as much fun as they looked.

Like everyone else, he'd seen priests and priestesses going about their business in the silky red robes that their position required, and like every child between the ages of four and twelve, he'd thought it would be kind of awesome to swoop around in large billowy robes. 

However, as he rode in through the gates of Dolona, he had to admit that the priest costume was a disappointment. The fabric kept getting caught in the stirrups and the billowy swooping was minimal at best.

Sadie seemed equally displeased by the small red hat that served as her disguise and Jared gave her a quick pat while the city gates squeaked shut behind them. 

"Good girl," he whispered as the guards went past. "I know they're bad guys but don't eat anybody 'til we save Jensen, okay?"

Sadie whinnied in agreement. (At least Jared assumed it was agreement. She was still kind of smug about not liking Jensen from the start.)

He pulled Sadie to a halt as one of the guards came towards him. Schooling his face into the most priest-like expression he could manage, Jared settled his robe around him and looked down at the guard. "I take it my message arrived."

"It did, Your Faithfulness," the guard said politely and Jared held up his hand.

"Please," he said, "call me Sam."

The guard's smile was surprisingly cold. "Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Dolona, Sir. I'm Captain Armstrong of Lord Welliver's personal guard. I'd be happy to escort you to meet him."

There was no other option offered. As much as Jared wanted to explore on his own, he figured it was a bad idea to raise suspicions after less than a minute inside the city walls and so settled for a polite nod. "I'd appreciate that, Captain."

Armstrong motioned to two of the other guards before climbing up onto his horse and trotting ahead of Jared. "Follow me, Sir. These streets aren't always safe for visitors, even ones like yourself."

The other guards mounted up behind him. Despite the yards of silk he was wrapped in, Jared felt naked without the comfort of his sword at his side. The guards settled in close and Sadie hesitated, toeing the ground unhappily before Jared gently eased her onward behind Armstrong.

As intimidating as the guards were, Jared was about eighty percent sure that they wouldn't murder a priest in broad daylight.

He tried not to think about that other twenty percent.

The road through the middle of the city was wide and well-paved but the finery of the lord's tower up ahead did little to distract him from the decrepit wooden houses that stretched back from the road. They were huddled together, close enough that half of them seemed to be leaning against each other just to stay upright, and Jared's jaw tightened at the contrast with the well-built finery of the lord's quarters that awaited him.

As rundown as the houses were, Jared couldn't miss the red symbols painted beside almost every window they passed. The divine mark of a circle cut through with a line stood out on the splintering wood of the houses and Jared found himself reassured that Morgan had told the truth about how religious the citizens were.

He revised his lack-of-priest-murder estimate up to ninety-five percent.

Ahead of him, Armstrong picked up speed and Jared followed him towards Welliver's quarters in the middle of the city. The stone matched the grey of the city walls and Jared guessed that the broad tower that housed Welliver had been built at the same time as Dolona's defenses, probably to serve as a keep in the decades before peace had settled in the region.

More guards ushered them through the gates to Welliver's compound and Jared pulled Sadie in beside Armstrong's horse before dismounting. Pleased that he hadn't fallen in a tangled heap of red cloth and sandaled feet, Jared stroked Sadie's mane and whispered in her ear, "Be nice."

The snort he got in response did not imply niceness but he gave her another pat anyway before looking over to where Armstrong was waiting.

"His Lordship is enjoying his sport," Armstrong informed him. "He's instructed me to show you to your chambers if it's not to your taste."

Jared wasn't sure what the priests' official position was on sport but settled for a shrug. "Who doesn't enjoy some honest sport? I'll meet with him now if that suits."

"Lord Welliver is always pleased to meet one of the Faithful."

What Armstrong lacked in sincerity he made up for in courtesy and Jared gave a polite nod in return. The band around his temples itched and it was a fight to stop himself tripping over the bottom of his robes but he kept his demeanor as serene as possible when he followed Armstrong into Welliver's home.

He only had a moment to stare, dumbstruck, at the opulence of the furniture and tapestries that decorated the reception room. Oblivious to his astonishment, Armstrong led him through the hallway and down a staircase, which brought them out into an enclosed courtyard. The grey of the tower stretched up around them and Jared glanced up at the overcast circle of sky before continuing onward.

The courtyard was wide enough to accommodate a dozen of the rickety wooden houses outside. Rather than building up, however, Welliver had dug down to create a small arena that filled the courtyard. There was just one row of wooden seats around the edge, suggesting a select audience rather than a public spectacle. 

At the moment, the seats only held one watcher and Jared's heartbeat picked up speed at the first sight of Welliver himself. 

If Morgan's description hadn't been adequate, Welliver's clothes would've been enough of a clue as to his status. He was older than Morgan, with a thatch of silver-grey hair, a thin mouth, and a carefully shaped beard, but where Morgan eschewed extravagance, Welliver embraced it. His robe was lined with thick white fur at the neck, cuffs and hem, and as they got closer, Jared could make out the intricate embroidery on his leather vest and belt. His wrists were adorned with gold bands which matched the delicate gold chain of the emerald pendant that hung around his neck. 

It was only the daydream of punching the guy in the face that allowed Jared to smile when Welliver rose to greet him. "Ah, this must be the priest I was promised."

"Sam." Jared inclined his head rather than offering a handshake. "A pleasure to meet you, Lord Welliver."

"It's an honor to welcome one of the Faithful," Welliver said. "Please, sit. Enjoy the entertainment."

Jared didn't miss the wordless dismissal of Armstrong that followed. Pleased to have some alone time, he took his seat next to Welliver's cushioned chair and peered down into the arena as a roar rose up below him. Taken by surprise, Jared scanned the sand and the steep stone walls until his gaze fell on the hulking shape on the far side of the arena.

It was taller and broader than any man he'd ever seen. Even though it stood on two legs, its hide was covered in dark fur all the way from its wide, muscled shoulders down to the dull hooves on its feet. It was too far away to see its face but from the silhouette of horns against the arena wall, Jared guessed it didn't look any more human from the front.

Its movements were more man than animal, however, and Jared winced sharply when it landed a punch to the crumpled heap of a man lying at its feet. The man barely retreated, save for curling in on himself even more, and Jared tore his eyes away when Welliver remarked, "Magnificent, isn't he?"

"Fascinating," Jared agreed. He wondered if he was allowed to break people's noses just because they had horrific definitions of 'sport'. "What is this?"

"An interrogation of sorts." Welliver looked over with a smile. "I've found that criminals are far more willing to talk when their other option is being torn to pieces by my minotaur down there."

Jared swallowed. "That's a criminal?"

"Of course." Welliver sounded surprised. "I wouldn't throw a law-abiding citizen in with that beast."

He whistled sharply. The minotaur froze but another whistle had it bending down to haul the man off the ground. The man's body was limp in its grasp, limbs flopping like a ragdoll's as the minotaur dragged him across the arena and presented him to Welliver.

Jared flinched at his first glimpse of the minotaur's face when it turned. Whereas its body had some semblance of humanity in its stance and gait, its face was pure beast, all dark eyes, flared nostrils and sharp horns. Its hands, in contrast, had the joints and dexterity of Jared's own and he watched, sickened, as it grabbed the man by the throat and turned him around to face Welliver.

Somewhere deep down inside, Jared knew he shouldn't have been surprised to see that the minotaur's victim was Jensen.

He'd known Jensen was there and he'd known what kind of a man Welliver was; it wasn't hard to draw the obvious conclusion. However, that didn't stop the reality of the situation hitting him like a punch as Jensen struggled against the minotaur's grip, beaten and bloodied and being choked to death for someone else's amusement.

When Welliver spoke again, it was to Jensen rather than Jared. "Do you have an answer for me yet, boy?"

Held up off the ground by the minotaur's hand, Jensen kicked out at thin air as he nodded. 

On Welliver's approval, the minotaur dropped him down to the sand of the arena and Jared pulled the hood of his robes further over his face as he listened for Jensen's answer.

"So?" Welliver asked. "Where's that friend of yours?"

"He-" Jensen coughed, pressing a hand to his bruised throat. "He's in the West."

Welliver leaned forward, eyes bright. "The West? Where?"

There was a smile on Jensen's lips as he wiped the blood from his nose. "A town called Suck My Dick," he said, meeting Welliver's eyes. "He's taking shelter with Prince Go Fuck Yourself."

Welliver's knuckles turned white around the arms of his chair but his expression was neutral when he nodded to the minotaur again. Its growl echoed through the courtyard as it caught Jensen by the collar of his tattered shirt and threw him halfway across the arena like he weighed no more than bag of flour. 

It charged after him and kicked him cruelly in the chest when he tried to stand. Jensen collapsed, winded and hurting, and Jared could hardly tear his eyes away when Welliver said apologetically, "There are always some who are slower learners than others."

Jensen's cries filled the gaps between the minotaur's grunts and Jared tried to keep his worry out of his voice when he asked, "Is that thing going to kill him?"

"Not today," Welliver said. "As long as I feed it a convict every so often, the minotaur's happy just to toy with the rest of them. Would you believe I found it hunting merchants in the mountains? It didn't even eat half of them, just strung their bodies up as decorations." He chuckled to himself. "Such a waste. But no, this prisoner's destined for a proper public execution. This is just to scare him into talking."

It was said casually, as though he was discussing the best way to brush a horse, and Jared swallowed down his bile as he looked back out into the arena. He was in time to see Jensen land a kick to the minotaur's stomach and Jared hid a pleased smile at the pained bellow that followed.

Welliver seemed less confident of Jensen's prospects as he reached for an enameled goblet, which had to be worth more than most of his citizens earned in a year. "Give him a while longer. He'll talk eventually." He looked over at Jared. "You're from beyond the Long Lakes, your message said? What brings you to Dolona?"

"I'm just passing through," Jared said with a placid smile. "I'm traveling to a retreat down in the Blue Plains. I heard that faith was strong in this city so it seemed like a good place to stop for a night or two."

"You chose wisely." Welliver snagged a grape from a bowl beside him as he looked back to the arena. "The people here are very dedicated to their worship."

"Yet your Captain tells me the streets aren't safe?"

Welliver smiled sharply at that before taking another sip of wine. "There are always bad apples. My men do their best to keep the city running as it should and any law-breakers…" He gestured to the arena, where the minotaur backhanded Jensen hard enough to knock him to the ground. "Well, they're dealt with appropriately."

Biting his tongue, Jared watched Jensen drag himself backwards as the minotaur paced the arena, clearly content with the damage he'd done. Jensen was shaking with exhaustion when he reached the wall but he pulled himself back to his feet anyway and looked up at Welliver with contempt.

"That the best you got?" he called, goading Welliver rather than the minotaur. "We both know you're not gonna kill me yet. Not without an audience."

Jared almost felt guilty for forgetting how smart Jensen could be.

Welliver shrugged. "I have an audience."

Jensen bared his bloodied teeth in a grin. "One priest? Please. You don't make an example of a guy by letting your pet monster gore him in private." He glanced at the minotaur, who snarled at him. "No offense."

"I don't know," Welliver said. "I could always hang your corpse up from the tower. That should get the message across."

"Not as well as an axe to the neck in the middle of the town square." He looked over to the minotaur. "Sorry, buttercup, you just don't cut it. Maybe if you keep polishing those horns, you'll get to be used as something other than a giant, angry meat tenderizer."

The minotaur growled at that, kicking the sand up beneath its hooves, and Jared leaned forward as Jensen continued to taunt it. "Don't tell me you don't miss the thrill of mass murder on your own terms. Is it really better to be on a leash to this guy? Think about all those merchants who've gone by unterrorized."

Evidently the lack of massacred merchants was a source of consternation, judging by the way the minotaur snorted and tossed its head. Jensen's smile didn't dim and Jared shifted in his seat, worried about where this was going.

"But hey, maybe you're happy being a docile little pet," Jensen said, apparently unconcerned by how huge and un-docile the minotaur was. "I'm pretty sure I've seen kittens that are scarier than you."

The minotaur was in motion in the blink of an eye.

It charged forward, hurtling across the sand with a furious roar as Jensen pressed himself flat against the stone wall. It was little more than a blur of horns and fur and Jared couldn't keep from cringing as he waited for the beast to tear Jensen to pieces.

The impact, when it came, was enough to shake the whole arena.

Jensen dodged at the last second, just avoiding the minotaur's hooves as he rolled away to let the beast go charging into the wall. The sharp crack of horn against stone made Jared's skin crawl and he flinched at the deafening bellow that was let loose when the minotaur staggered backward to shake off the broken half of its horn.

Its fingers curled into fists and it lunged at Jensen again as Welliver shouted, "Stand down!"

The minotaur didn't slow down for a second. It ran at Jensen, grabbing him by the throat and throwing him back against the wall before landing a flurry of vicious punches to his face and body. Jensen cowered back, holding his arms over his face in self-defense, but just when Jared was bracing for the minotaur to punch clean through his skull, he lashed out to catch it on the thinnest part of its ankle.

It stumbled, knocked off balance by the kick, and Jared leaned forward as Jensen crawled across the ground to grasp the broken chunk of horn that was lying forgotten in the sand.

"No!" Welliver yelled, rushing up out of his seat. "I order you to stand down!"

Jared didn't know whether he was shouting to Jensen or the minotaur but neither one of them obeyed him. Jensen struggled to his feet, holding one arm across his stomach while he brandished the horn in the other. The point looked even more lethal when it was held like a weapon and as the minotaur charged once more, Jared found himself praying that it would be lethal enough.

He couldn't tear his eyes away when the minotaur barreled into Jensen, sending them both crashing to the ground in a tumble of limbs. Jensen's groan of pain was barely audible beneath the snarls of the minotaur but Jared rose up out of his seat when a violent jolt went through both of them.

The minotaur slumped in an instant. Its fists relaxed and its body went still, leaving it a motionless heap of muscle and fur in the sand, and Jared looked to Jensen, desperate for some kind of sign that he was still alive under there.

It was almost impossible not to cheer when he saw Jensen's arm move.

Figuring that cheers would lead to their swift demise, Jared kept his mouth closed and his celebrations internal while he watched Jensen drag himself out from under the weight of the minotaur. The horn that had been in Jensen's hand was now embedded in the creature's chest, driven in deep by its own weight. Dark blood slid down the curve of the horn to stain Jensen's shirt and to soak into the sand beneath the corpse.

The minotaur was terrifying even in death, a lifeless colossus on the floor of the arena. Jensen's injuries were further testament to its strength and Jared had to force himself to sit back down when Jensen looked up at Welliver, too badly beaten to pull himself up off his knees.

His injuries didn't seem to have dampened his courage. His smile was weak but present and Jared hid a grin of his own when Jensen spat pointedly onto the sand beside the minotaur's body.

Welliver flexed his fingers around the wooden bar above the wall but soon straightened up, confident as ever when he called, "Guards!"

They appeared instantly, lining the door to the arena, and Welliver waved his hand in Jensen's direction. "Toss him back in the cells and dispose of the body."

Still winded from the fight, Jensen didn't struggle as he was hauled away by a pair of guards but he dragged his feet when Welliver asked Jared, "There's a holy day soon, correct?"

"Uh, yeah?" Remembering his disguise, Jared coughed. "I mean, yes, of course. The cleansing celebration is tomorrow."

"Perfect." Welliver smiled. "Armstrong? Schedule an execution for noon tomorrow." Jensen started at that, pulling against the grip the men had on his arms, but Welliver's smirk just broadened. "And since it's such a special day, we'll forego the axe." He sank back to his seat, sickeningly satisfied. "Personally, I always found fire to be so very cleansing."

The remaining color drained from Jensen's face to leave him ashen beneath the bruises. The guards carried him out of the arena before Welliver could say any more and when Welliver turned his attention to him, Jared concentrated very hard on not clubbing him to death with his stupidly oversized emerald.

"You lost your beast," Jared said, trying to sound sympathetic rather than gleeful.

"A minor setback." Welliver took another sip of wine. "There are always some who like to make things difficult for themselves."

"Not everyone can be blessed with wisdom," he said placidly. "Do you have many like him in your city?"

"Many thieves?" Welliver shook his head. "No, not any more. It's important to rule with a firm hand, to use one person's mistakes to teach the others. When the citizens see him burn to death in the square, they'll reconsider breaking the thievery laws."

"What did he steal?"

Jared didn't miss the way Welliver's hand dipped toward his emerald before he reached up to smooth down his hair. "He was caught before he took anything of value."

Emptying his glass, he stood before Jared could question him further. "But come now, you haven't traveled all this way just to talk about common criminals," he said lightly. "Let's talk of more pleasant matters."

"Oh, I don't mind," Jared deferred. "The rule of law in different provinces is a fascinating subject, especially with a leader as strong as yourself."

Flattered, Welliver puffed his chest up as he patted Jared on the shoulder. "In that case, I can give you a tour of the cells tomorrow. Show you the best ways to deal with criminals such as these. But first," he said, guiding him towards the door of the courtyard, "let us feast." He smiled. "We're civilized men, after all."

Jared's smile grew tight. "Of course," he agreed, letting himself be shepherded inside. "Thoroughly civilized."

  


To Jared's dismay, the evening's feast was kind of magnificent.

It didn't do anything to improve his opinion of Welliver, who was now a strong contender for the title of Worst Person Jared Had Ever Met, but it meant that he was grateful for the loose covering of the priest's robes as he crept down the darkened hallway.

That second turkey leg was definitely a mistake.

The thick blanket of clouds had cleared during dinner, giving Jared the advantage of moonlight to find his way around Welliver's tower in the dark. Although it had once been a keep, the windows had been widened to let in light rather than to keep out missiles and Jared caught glimpses of the star-scattered sky as he wound his way up the spiral staircase.

The town was quiet below him, old houses huddled together in sleep, and Jared paused at the window to look out over the town square. The stake was already in place for tomorrow's burning and he watched the movement of the guards in the moonlight as they bustled about to construct the platform on which Jensen would be killed.

The evening's food sat heavy in his stomach as he turned away and continued his climb.

Welliver's room was a floor above Jared's, with his treasure chamber way up at the top of the tower. According to Morgan, it was only protected by a locked door during the night but that didn't stop the nervous fluttering in Jared's chest as he reached the top of the staircase and peeked around the door. 

He let out a quiet breath when he wasn't greeted with a sword to the face.

The treasury was unmistakable, sealed off by a heavy wooden door at the other side of the bare hallway. Moonlight glinted off the metal handle and Jared bit his lip as he moved through the door towards the prize he was looking for.

His sandals slapped against the stone floor and he slowed down, holding his breath as he listened for footsteps on the stairs or a noise from inside the treasure chamber. There was nothing beyond the breeze drifting in through the window and Jared smiled to himself when he reached the door.

He could branch out into subterfuge if the adventurer thing didn't work out.

Unsurprisingly for a treasure chamber belonging to a dickish lord, the door was locked. The keyhole was big enough to fit a finger in, however, and so Jared crouched down to peer inside.

His mouth promptly fell open.

Given that his city was falling apart at the seams, Lord Welliver had a ridiculous amount of treasure locked away. Gold was piled high against the walls and spilled down to cover the floor in a carpet of coins. Silver scepters and coronets were tucked away between golden crowns, and splashes of rubies, sapphires and emeralds stood out against the sea of metal. 

It was obscene, partly because of how Welliver had been cruel enough to levy crippling taxes just to boost his own wealth, but partly because Jared now understood Jensen's borderline-sexual feelings towards large amounts of gold.

He absolutely wanted to return all the treasure to its rightful owners but there was a strong case to be made for rolling around in it like an excitable puppy before he did so.

His imagination slipped sideways to picturing Jensen there with him, naked and spread out on a pile of gold, but that was enough to drag him back to the task at hand. First he had to stop Jensen being killed, then he could have inappropriate fantasies about him.

Pulling the two metal lock-picks off his belt, Jared went to work.

Unfortunately, he didn't even get to touch the lock before he heard the thump of footsteps on the floor behind him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Jared whirled around at the voice and froze when he found himself facing a very displeased Armstrong. He was alone but armed, and Jared tucked the lock-picks back inside his sleeve as Armstrong stalked closer, gaze darting between Jared and the door of the treasure chamber.

"Are you trying to steal from us?" he demanded, his voice low and dangerous. "Would you repay Lord Welliver's hospitality in this manner?"

Jared managed to catch himself before he could launch into a flurry of denials. Straightening his robes, he nailed his calm facade back in place when he said, "Of course not. I like to pray before I retire for the evening -- I was looking for Lord Welliver's sanctuary."

Armstrong's eyes narrowed.

Jared smiled. "Could you point me in the right direction? I couldn't find any guards to ask."

"Downstairs." It was said grudgingly but Jared's smile stayed in place. "On the first floor beyond the banqueting hall."

Jared bowed his head. "I'm grateful for your help. Have a good night, Captain."

Armstrong didn't respond when Jared moved past him and headed back down the stairs. 

He kept his eyes on the steps on the way down rather than looking to the outside world. His thoughts jumped to his contingency plans now that he'd failed to get into the treasure chamber but he allowed himself a quick smirk when a pair of guards passed him on the stairs, only to be met with angry shouts from Armstrong when they reached the top.

Armstrong's anger echoed down the spiral staircase as Jared hurried down to the first floor and opened the door that led to the banquet hall. Given the colorful expletives that came tripping down the stairs after him, he didn't think Armstrong was listening but he made sure the door closed loudly again before creeping further down into the darkness of the tower.

It grew colder as he descended past ground level. The stone walls did little to preserve heat and Jared was under no illusions that Welliver cared about the comfort of the prisoners he kept in the cells beneath the tower.

Unlike the treasure chamber, the prison had two guards on the door and Jared adjusted his hood as one of them stepped forward to meet him, his face illuminated by the light from the torch on the wall

"What're you doing down here?"

"Good evening," Jared said. He hoped he sounded more like a relaxed priest than a terrified guy trying to sneak into jail to see his ex-boyfriend. "I was told there was someone due to be executed tomorrow who wanted to see a priest?"

The guards exchanged looks. Jared couldn't read enough of their expression but some of the tension seeped out of him when they both stepped aside.

"Take the first left and keep walking," the guard said. "He's in the cell at the end. We can't let you go in but you can do whatever you gotta do from outside."

A key would've been ideal but Jared's hopes weren't that high.

"Thank you." He smiled politely. "I hope you have a pleasant evening."

One of the guards pushed the door open for him and Jared took the first left as instructed. The door shut behind him with a clank and he shivered as he made his way down the long row of cells.

The prison was dark and cold, lit only by the occasional trickle of moonlight now that all the torches were out. It smelled of piss and blood and damp and Jared cringed at the sight of the prisoners curled up on the floors of their cells with only a blanket for warmth.

He wondered how many of them had even committed a crime.

The cells spanned the length of the much grander rooms above and it was a long walk through the silent prison to where Jensen was being held. His cell was cut off from the others by a narrow hallway and what looked like a small storage room, and although it had been designed for punishment rather than privacy, Jared was grateful for the relative seclusion.

Jared was pretty sure Sadie's stall for the night was more comfortable than the cramped corner Jensen had been shut into. Thick metal bars made up two sides of the cell and although the window high up on the wall let in some light, his skin crawled at the thought of being trapped in there for days.

However, as tiny as the cell was, it still took him a second to notice Jensen. 

He was tucked in the corner and curled up enough that all Jared could make out were his arms folded over his bare shins and the dark cap of his hair as he rested his head on his knees. He looked pitiful like that, all alone in the dark and waiting for his execution, and not for the first time Jared wished they could just go back to their nights together next to the campfire.

Things were so much simpler when their most pressing concern was who got to be the big spoon.

Moving close to the bars, he asked quietly, "You wanted to see me?"

Jensen jumped, banging his elbow on the wall in his haste to untangle himself, but the panic went out of him in an instant when he took in Jared's robes.

"I think you got the wrong guy," he murmured, letting his head thunk back against the wall. "A priest isn't gonna help me now."

The moonlight fell across Jared's face as he lowered his hood. "You sure about that?"

Jensen stared at him. "Jared?"

He couldn't keep the grin off his face. "Hey."

Jensen's mouth opened and closed, trying to shape words which refused to come, and Jared flinched back when he stumbled to his feet and ran to the bars.

Almost expecting a slap, he didn't know what to say when Jensen put his hands to his chest, grabbing at his robe and raising his fingers to brush his face in disbelief. "I don't- How are you here? Why?"

He shrugged. "I always wanted to save the damsel in distress."

Jensen smiled at that, shoving him lightly as his eyes glittered in the darkness. "Shut up."

Jared reached through the bars to tilt his chin up to the light. "You're not going to start crying, are you? 'Cause that's just gonna be awkward for both of us."

If their positions were reversed, Jared was confident there would've been way more sobbing and clutching -- after all, being saved from certain death was a very emotional experience -- but Jensen seemed grateful for the deflection as he rubbed a hand over his face with a weak smile. "Wouldn't want that."

It was hard to determine the severity of his injuries in the dim light but Jared tapped a nasty bruise on his jaw with a wince. "How you holding up?"

"Peachy," Jensen said, turning away from the touch. "I had a run-in with a minotaur."

"Who hasn't?" The embers of his anger towards Jensen hadn't faded completely but the yelling could come after the 'I'm so glad you're alive' hugs. "I was there with Welliver when you were fighting it. Those were some nice moves."

"What can I say, I learned from the best."

Jensen looked exhausted at the memory and Jared gave his arm a squeeze. "You did really well, man."

"Well enough to get turned into a human bonfire tomorrow," Jensen said, looking down at his feet. "Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned decapitation?"

"I don't think there's any such thing as a good decapitation," Jared said with a grimace. "But we're not going to let you be executed, bonfire or otherwise." He moved in as close as the bars would let him and rested his hands on Jensen's arms, rubbing a little to warm him up. "You're going to be fine. We're gonna get out of here and stop Welliver and no-one is going to set you on fire."

"'We'?"

"Me and Morgan." Jensen frowned and Jared nodded. "I know, I know. He came to find me when you got caught. He couldn't get in without being recognized, so…" He held his arms out, making his robe swish as he did so. "I helped out."

Jensen looked like he was about to cry again. It had evidently been a very stressful day.

"Jared-" He curled his fingers around the bars. "Jared, I'm sorry. I know my head's on the block and this probably doesn't hold much weight now but I should've told you the truth when I had the chance. I shouldn't have let it go that far with the duel and with Jeff. God, I don't know if I should've even left with him." He looked down. "I fucked up. I _really_ fucked up and I'm so sorry, Jared. I-"

"Hey," Jared murmured, resting his hand on Jensen's shoulder through the bars. "It's all right. I can't say I'm happy about what happened but we can fix it. You just need to not be executed before we get a chance to talk, okay?"

Jensen gave a tiny nod and Jared beamed. "Good. I'm glad we got that 'no dying' agenda hammered out."

Jensen smiled at that and lifed his eyes to meet Jared's. He looked awful, bruised and tired and underfed, but that didn't dampen Jared's spirits any when he admitted in a whisper, "I missed you."

Their lips were inches apart. Jensen's hand moved to rest at his waist and Jared pressed himself up against the bars as Jensen whispered with a smile, "I missed you too."

Despite the bars between them, it felt like the easiest thing in the world to catch Jensen's lips in a kiss. 

The bars were cold on his cheeks but Jensen's mouth was warm and familiar enough to make him not care about the prison. His lip was split from the day's fight so Jared took it carefully, lifting Jensen's face up to kiss him slow and gentle. Jensen let out a soft noise as he squeezed Jared's hip in what passed for an embrace between the bars, and Jared smiled against his lips before tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

"I don't remember that being part of a priest's duties."

Jared jumped at the voice from the darkness. Breaking the kiss, he pulled back from the bars to look down the dark hallway of the prison. The clink of flint against metal was followed by the flare of light from the torches and Jared swallowed hard at the sight of Welliver standing between the cells.

He was flanked by Armstrong and six burly guards, and Jared took a step backward as he stammered, "M-my Lord. The prisoner requested-"

Welliver held up a hand. "Save it." Keeping his eyes on the pair of them, he spoke to someone over his shoulder, "Looks like your tip paid off. Is this him?"

Morgan stepped out of the shadows to look him up and down.

"That's him," Morgan said coolly. "He's been hiding the thief for weeks."

Jared's eyes went wide. "What? What the hell, Morgan?"

Morgan's expression was icy as he took his place at Welliver's side. The cuts and bruises on his face were fading and his torn clothes had been replaced by rich cloaks and furs. "I'm sorry, kid. Lord Welliver cut me a deal."

"A deal?" Jared raised his eyebrows. "What, you turn me in and you go free?"

"Mr Morgan made a compelling case," Welliver said with a calm smile. "I get to dispose of two criminals and he and his family get to live." He clicked his fingers. "Guards."

Two guards stepped forward and Jared struggled uselessly as they grabbed his arms to hold him in place. "You can't do this," he called to Morgan. "I was helping you, asshole!"

"I can help myself," Morgan said, looking between Jared and Jensen. "I managed for years before I met Jensen and I'll manage just as well without him."

"You son of a bitch!"

The memory of Morgan's boot slamming into his ribs was fresh in his mind when he lunged forward, wrenching free of the guards to land a solid punch to Morgan's jaw. Morgan stumbled backward into the soldiers and Jared took advantage of the confusion to swing his elbow back into Welliver's face.

He smirked at Welliver's outraged bellow and kicked out when a guard took hold of his arm before he could land another punch. There was no room to fight in the narrow hallway and so Jared did what he could, clawing and gouging and scratching at them all in anger until he found himself thrown to the ground.

Guards held him down, keeping his face pressed to the stone floor as they chained his arms behind his back, and Jared shook his hair out of his eyes when they hauled him back to his feet. At least half the guards looked disheveled and Jared smiled defiantly at Welliver when he saw the blood trickling from the scratches on his cheek.

"Lock him up," Welliver barked. "Make sure he can't contact this one."

He nodded in Jensen's direction and Jared looked back to see Jensen watching them in shock. 

"No!" Reaching through the bars, he caught Morgan's arm. "Jeff-"

Jared caught Jensen's whisper when Morgan turned to face him, "What the hell's going on? What is this?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "This is my city, Jensen. It's my family. They've gotta come first."

"No." Jensen's grip tightened on his arm. "No, we can help your family. You don't have to do this."

"It's already done," he said, curling his fingers around Jensen's wrist. "I'm sorry, Jensen."

Pulling against the guards, Jared watched Jensen's eyes move over Morgan's face, searching for some kind of sign that this wasn't what he thought.

He watched the fear set in when he didn't find anything.

"No. No!" Jensen begged. "Jeff, please, they're going to kill us."

Morgan looked down to where Jensen was still holding onto his upper arm. "Let go, Jensen."

Jensen shook his head, mouth set in a stubborn line. "You can't do this to me."

"I said let go!"

The shout was accompanied by a hard shove to the chest, which sent Jensen tumbling back against the wall of the cell. Morgan stepped back out of reach and fixed his sleeve as he murmured, quiet and sincere, "I'm sorry."

He fell into step behind them as the guards dragged Jared through the prison to his own cell. The manacles were rough and cold around his wrists but Jared kept his struggles to a minimum as he listened to Jensen's desperate shouts chase down the hallway after him.

Morgan followed Welliver out of the prison without a backward glance but Jared squared his shoulders and wound down his anger when he reached his cell. He didn't have time to breathe, let alone to fight back between the manacles being removed and someone shoving him to his knees in the cell, but he stayed down while the guards locked the door behind him.

The key clanked in the lock and Jared pursed his lips when Armstrong said from behind him, "Have a good night, _Priest_."

He chuckled as he walked away but Jared couldn't stop a smile from spreading across his own lips when he reached inside his robe for his prize.

The chain was broken from where he'd torn it off in the struggle but the rest was intact and heavy in his hand. The moonlight glinted off the polished surface and Jared ran his fingers over the smooth curve of the emerald in rapt fascination.

He couldn't wait to see Welliver's face when he realized it was missing.

  


The crowd began to gather early the next morning.

As far as Jared knew, Jensen's execution was still scheduled for noon but he heard the sounds of people filling the square long before the sun rose to its peak. They were shepherded in by Welliver's guards and marshaled into position on three sides of the town square to watch Welliver preside over the execution. 

Jared didn't know whether or not to be grateful that the arrangement of the crowd still allowed him to see the stake from his cell. 

The window was high, narrow, and barred but if he stood on his tiptoes, he could see the platform that had been build the night before. The stake stood tall in the center of it and the pit underneath was filled with piled-high wood which was soon to be set alight.

He didn't want to think about Jensen being there when that happened.

Shut away in the opposite end of the prison, he couldn't hear anyone coming or going from Jensen's cell and so he was taken by surprise at the sudden hush that fell over the crowd and the shouted order that followed.

"Bring out the condemned!"

It was Armstrong's voice. Jared ran to the window to peer through as Jensen was led out across the square, a guard on both sides and shackles around his wrists and ankles. His pace was steady and unhesitating, and as much as Jared wanted to see Jensen make a break for freedom, he was quietly impressed by the way he was facing his death. (Although that didn't mean he was ready to let him die.)

Jensen's expression was blank as the guards began to bind him to the stake but his lips narrowed in anger when he looked up at something Jared couldn't see. It seemed like a safe assumption that the anger was directed towards Morgan but Jared couldn't wait any longer to get further confirmation.

"Hey!" he called, running over to the bars of his cell. "Guard! I got a problem in here!"

When the guard showed up, he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else than listening to Jared's problems. "What's the issue?"

"The bucket," Jared said with an apologetic shrug. "I know it's a prison and all but I still have some standards of hygiene, man. I mean, do you even clean these out between prisoners?"

The guard raised his eyebrows. "You're complaining about a bucket?"

"No, I'm complaining about the smell coming from a bucket," Jared said. "I don't wanna smell another dude's business, man. It's gross in here. I didn't even know a human body could produce smells that like." He beckoned him forward. "Sniff this and tell me that's not from a troll or something. C'mon."

The guard took a single step forward and Jared struck.

The lock on the door had been stupidly easy to pick, even for someone as inexperienced as he was, but the shove of the heavy door against the guard's face made Jared cringe. The guy dropped like a stone and Jared darted out to grab his ankles and pull him into the cell before any of the others noticed. 

(His subterfuge skills improved dramatically when his friend was minutes away from being set on fire.)

"Sorry, man," he whispered to the unconscious guard as he pulled his breastplate off and wriggled it on over his own shoulders. "Some friendly advice? You probably shouldn't trust guys who try to get you to smell troll shit. That's not a thing normal people do."

  


It was much easier to get around the tower when he looked like a guard rather than a priest.

He got some bemused glances from the other prison guards as he went tearing out of the jail but being large, well-muscled, and in a hurry evidently gave him a free pass. Even if someone had been chasing him, Jared was pretty sure he would've outrun them as he dashed up the stairs and through the maze of corridors in the tower. 

All he could think of was Jensen burning to death in a click of Welliver's fingers and he speeded up to sprint through the doors that led out to the town square.

He nearly fell flat on his face when he went charging through into the square but he came to a screeching halt in front of the platform. The wood was stacked high and soaked with the same potion that Jared had used on the imps but the fire had yet to be lit.

Thankful for the small reprieve, Jared looked back up at Welliver.

He was seated in a raised spectator's booth that afforded him a view of the whole square. Armstrong stood behind his chair but Morgan and the rest of the guards were nowhere to be seen when Welliver asked, angry, "What's the meaning of this interruption, soldier?"

"This man doesn't deserve to be executed for trying to help the people of this city," Jared declared. He pulled his borrowed helmet off and dropped it into the dirt at his feet. "And I'm pretty sure these people deserve a better ruler than you."

Welliver was visibly stunned as he rose to his feet. "You should be in prison."

Jared shrugged. "So should you." Pleased to see no-one was moving to stop him, he continued, "I request that you pardon this man and that you stand down as lord of Dolona, so that the people can choose a more just government than you."

Welliver laughed in disbelief. "You have no authority in this city, boy," he said, apparently unruffled. "I'll be damned before I take orders from a common criminal who should be up there on the stake with his friend. Guards!"

He motioned towards Jared but Jared grinned at the ripple of uncertainty that spread through the crowd when no guards came forward. 

"Guards?" Welliver called again, looking around in confusion. The spectators' box was all but empty, save for Welliver and Armstrong, but the four guards around Jensen took an uncertain step forward.

"No!" Welliver barked. "You stay where you are. There's no telling what tricks this thief has in store."

Pulling off the armor he stole from the prison guard, Jared held up his hands. "No tricks," he promised. "Just me, you and a sword." Welliver raised his eyebrows and Jared took a step forward. "I challenge you to a duel."

Somehow it was less satisfying without the accompanying slap across the face with a pair of gloves but the burble of excitement from the crowd was an acceptable substitute.

"A duel?" Welliver chuckled. "I'm lord of this city. I won't lower myself to duel with peasants who don't know their place." He clicked his fingers. "Armstrong, toss this blowhard back in jail where he belongs."

"You'd refuse an honest challenge?" Jared asked, holding his arms out in feigned surprise. 

If there was one thing he'd learned in his short-lived career as a dashing adventurer, it was how to charm to a crowd.

"Are you that weak a ruler that you'd send some dumb thug instead of facing me like a man?" He smirked at Armstrong. "No offense, Captain."

He paced in a circle and was gratified to see some of the citizens nodding along with him. On the stake, Jensen still looked stunned by what was happening and Jared gave him a quick wink before turning back to Welliver. 

"So, Your Lordship, do the good people of this city have a pathetic little coward for a ruler?"

His heart plummeted when Welliver sank back to his seat with a smug smile. "No," he said simply. "They have a wise ruler who knows how to deal with gutter trash like you. Lock him up," he ordered, "and light the fire."

Cries of dismay rose up from the crowd and Jared moved closer to Welliver's booth, relieved that the people were on his side.

"It's too late for that," he taunted. "You refuse now and you'll lose face in front of your people. They'd never obey a spineless sack of shit like you again." Welliver gritted his teeth in anger and Jared pushed harder. "You're just gonna take this, aren't you? I could call you a heartless, thieving scumbag and you wouldn't even get out of your chair to stop me."

"I'll have your head," Welliver promised.

"Delivered to you by another man's blade, no doubt." Playing to the crowd, Jared raised his voice as he asked, "So you won't fight for your honor, your citizens, your reputation, or your city? How about for this?"

Pulling the stolen emerald out of his pocket, he held it up to catch the midday sun. 

Murmurs rose up from the crowd and when Jared looked back, Welliver was on his feet again, his hands clenched into fists. "That belongs to me."

Jared swung the emerald around with ease. "So come get it back."

Welliver hesitated for a moment, his face like thunder, but Jared grinned in delight when he finally snatched up the sword from Armstrong's scabbard.

"Looks like those rumors are true," Jared mocked. "You can only get it up when money's involved."

Uncowed, Welliver shrugged off his coat and descended the stairs to the square. "You need putting in your place," he told him, "and I'll be the one to do it."

Drawing the sword he stole from the guard, Jared backed off into the middle of the square, ready to do battle.

He frowned when Welliver crossed in front of him and headed towards Jensen.

"Hey!" he called. "I thought this was a duel?"

"Oh, it is," Welliver said, glancing over his shoulder. "I'm just making sure it stays one-on-one."

He brought the sword down hard on something in the woodpile and Jared started when he saw sparks fly off the flint.

"No!"

The potion was alight in seconds. The sparks caught it easily, sending blue flames pouring over the pile like water, and Jared could only look on in horror as the heat sank into the wood to make the bonfire crackle to life. Jensen cried out at the sudden ignition, pressing himself back against the stake as yellowing flames started to blossom and grow, and Jared hesitated, sword raised.

"Come on, boy," Welliver taunted. "You wouldn't back out of a duel now, would you?"

This had never been part of any plan and Jared looked between Welliver and Jensen as the rumble of the crowd filled the square.

"Jared!"

Jensen's shout carried over the din and Jared headed in his direction only to stop when Jensen yelled, "Finish the duel!"

"Jens-"

"Do it!" Trapped amid the growing flames, he flashed Jared a weak smile. "Kick his ass."

Jared nodded. He could do that.

"On three," he said, adjusting his grip on the sword and positioning himself toe-to-toe with Welliver. "One, two-"

Welliver struck before he could get to three. 

He swung low and fast, aiming for Jared's knees, but Jared spun back before he could do any more than slice the fabric of his pants. It was too close for comfort and he stumbled when Welliver took advantage of his disorientation to bring his sword down towards his head.

Jared deflected with only inches to spare. Caught off guard, he slashed out blindly as Welliver bore down on him, striking fast and hard enough that Jared struggled to stand his ground. The crowd around them murmured with every clash of their swords but sharp gasps cut through the noise when Welliver landed a solid kick to Jared's stomach.

Too focused on the rapid slice of Welliver's blade, Jared was taken by surprise at the kick and he staggered backward, coughing. Welliver didn't slow down as he swung hard at Jared's neck but this time Jared's defense was weak enough that Welliver's sword glanced off his shoulder as he knocked it away. 

Jared winced at the bite of the blade but he didn't have chance to inspect his injury before Welliver drove him backwards with another flurry of blows. The fire rose up behind him, a wall of heat at his back, but Jared kept his eyes forward in search of an opening to shift the fight back in his favor.

He found one when Welliver raised his arm to deliver a well-telegraphed blow to Jared's left.

He leaned across to parry the blow and throw it off but it was only at the impact of their swords that he realized how unusual Welliver's sloppy strike had been. Jared pushed back with his sword, trying to knock Welliver off balance while he regained his footing, but he was too slow to stop Welliver from slamming an elbow into his temple.

He was already unstable from the parry and the crack of Welliver's sword hilt against his ankle was enough to send him crashing to the ground.

He heard Jensen shout his name above the roar of the flames but he looked up to see Welliver's foot land on his chest. 

He groaned at the impact then winced when Welliver pressed down on his ribs, lips curled in a cruel snarl. "What was that you were saying about me being a coward?"

He lifted his foot off his chest to stomp down on his wrist. It was hard enough to make Jared cry out and drop his sword as Welliver reached down to snatch the emerald from his pocket. "I think this belongs to me."

His foot found its position on his ribs again and Welliver sneered down at him. "You see? I told you I'd put you in your place, just like the trash you are."

Winded and dazed, Jared tried to push his foot away but only got a kick to the side for his efforts. Welliver's sword came to rest above his neck and Jared froze in expectation of sharpened steel being driven through his throat.

If there was a way to brace for something like that, Jared didn't know it.

The fire raged on beside him, filling the square with smoke and forcing him to listen to Jensen's pained, panicked breaths while he met his own end.

Defeat settled over him and as he stared at the sharp length of Welliver's sword, he tried to make his peace with the idea of death. He'd done as much as he could and if it had to happen now, then dying at the hands of an evil tyrant while fighting for the life of someone he loved seemed like a decent way to go out. 

His mom would be proud.

Figuring he was as ready as he could be, Jared breathed in as deep as he could with the sword pressing down on his windpipe and looked up at Welliver. 

Just in time to see a stone hit the side of his head.

It was no more than a pebble, certainly not big enough to do any damage as it bounced off his temple. It hadn't come from Jared or Jensen and when Welliver whipped around to scan the hushed crowd for the culprit, Jared finally found an opening.

If Welliver wouldn't count to three before attacking him, Jared wasn't about to turn down a chance like this.

Grabbing Welliver's foot by the heel and the toe, Jared wrenched it as hard as he could. Welliver dropped to his knees with a bellow of pain and Jared rolled away to snatch up his sword.

Scattered cheers went up among the crowd as Jared got to his feet and twirled his sword with a grim smile. Even if he'd been ready to go out in a blaze of glory, the citizens clearly weren't okay with submitting to Welliver's tyranny any longer.

A shout from Jensen pushed him into action again -- 'blaze of glory' had probably been a poor choice of expression -- and Jared pounced just as Welliver got back to his feet. Spurred on by the shouts from the crowd and by everything that was at stake (in every sense), Jared kept his movements quick and light, thrusting and slashing and parrying as fast as he could to force Welliver to try to keep up.

Although Welliver had the advantages of age and ruthlessness, youth and recent experience were on Jared's side. Plus, since Welliver wasn't breathing fire, dragging him to a watery grave, or impersonating his boyfriend, Jared could say with confidence that he'd defeated worse foes in the past.

Buoyed by shouts from the citizens, Jared landed a hit to Welliver's side and circled him with his sword raised as Welliver held a hand to his wound.

"You can surrender," Jared said. "Lay down your sword and I'll spare you."

Welliver lowered his bloodstained hand and laughed. "What's the matter, boy? Don't have the stones to murder a man in front of an audience?" He smirked. "Let me show you how it's done."

Hyper-conscious of the fire roaring behind him and the amount of time it would take Jensen's platform to burn, Jared sidestepped Welliver's thrust and aimed a left-handed punch to his jaw. He'd take knocking him out as a solution if it meant finishing this as soon as possible.

Taking a lesson from Jensen's tactics with the minotaur the day before, he kept dodging and swerving in an effort to avoid Welliver's thrusts while landing punches and kicks whenever possible. He could feel Welliver's rage build with every missed hit and every blow he took, but he kept it up as Welliver's attacks grew wilder and less controlled.

Welliver drew his arm back, ready to swing his sword across Jared's stomach, and Jared made his move.

He ducked as the sword came down. Dropping into a crouch that was only just low enough to stop Welliver slicing his scalp off, he sprang back to his feet as soon as the momentum carried Welliver's arm out to his right. It left him wide open for a blade through his chest but Jared kicked out high instead to hit his wrist and to send his sword flying into the dirt.

Welliver didn't even have chance to close his hand into a fist before Jared tackled him to the ground. Filled with the memory of how Welliver had spent his afternoon laughing and drinking as his beast nearly beat Jensen to death, Jared landed two solid punches to Welliver's face, knocking the last of the fight out of him as he straddled him on the ground.

Blood streamed from Welliver's lip and nose as Jared laid his sword across his throat and demanded, loud enough for the crowd to hear, "Surrender."

"Go to Hell-"

"Surrender!" Jared yelled, too tired and too furious to prolong this when Jensen was still tied to that stake. "You either surrender and be exiled or I cut your head off right here. Make your choice, Your Lordship."

Welliver looked around as much as his position would allow. "Armstrong!"

"No," Jared snapped. He looked over to where Armstrong was standing at the edge of the square, still hesitating over running in to save his boss. "He agreed to the duel. You so much as touch a sword right now and I'll kill you, I swear."

Armstrong recoiled at the venom in Jared's voice and Jared fought to conceal his relief when he stepped back, evidently deciding against fighting Welliver's battles for him.

"He's not helping you," Jared told Welliver. "No-one's helping you. So make your choice, asshole: death or exile."

In the course of his adventures to date, Jared had never killed another person but as he knelt there under the midday sun, he didn't think his conscience would be enough to stop him if Welliver refused to yield.

That determination must have showed on his face since Welliver raised his hands slowly. 

"Exile," he ground out, dropping back into the dirt. "I surrender."

Jared smiled. "Good choice."

Keeping his sword at Welliver's throat, he looked to the guards surrounding Jensen's platform. "Stand down," he ordered, "and put out that fire."

The guards paused, looking to each other for help, and Jared's anger flared up again. The fire roared as bright flames licked at the wood of the stake but Jensen was slumped against the post, held mostly up by the ropes around his wrists.

"Put out the fire!" Jared yelled. "Get him down! Now!"

The guards didn't move but the citizens did. Bucket after bucket was passed above their heads from the fountain to the fire and Jared watched the water begin to quench the flames before he turned his attention back to Welliver.

"Leave," he ordered. "The emerald should buy you enough food and shelter to let you survive. You don't come near Dolona or the Long Lakes again, you understand?"

Welliver clenched his jaw as he nodded. "I understand."

"Good." Jared kicked Welliver's sword away as he stood. "Now get out."

Welliver glared at him but he turned to leave without another word. Jeers followed him out of the square with shouts of "Thief!", "Murderer!", and "Tyrant!" spilling from the bustling crowd but Jared chose not to linger on them in favor of running to Jensen.

He could oversee the abolition of the dictatorship once he was sure Jensen was alive.

The fire was still smoking when he approached but the wood was now soaked and the flames were dying. Kicking the charred logs aside, Jared climbed up to the crumbling platform to tilt Jensen's face up to his. "Jensen? You with me?"

Jensen's skin was hot and damp with sweat but Jared's blood ran cold when he didn't feel a pulse under his fingertips. 

"It's okay," he said, trying to convince himself more than Jensen. "You're gonna be okay. I won, I'm getting you out of here."

Jensen's head dropped back down when Jared moved to cut through the ropes. It only took one slice of his sword and he darted back around to catch Jensen before he fell.

He stumbled out of the smoking fire with Jensen's arm slung over his shoulders and he promptly collapsed to his knees in the dirt. Their embrace was less of a hug and more of a one-sided attempt at keeping Jensen upright. 

Jared pulled back to check his face again as he shook him gently. "Hey," he murmured, "c'mon, man, don't do this. You're gonna be fine. You're Jensen -- you're always fine."

Jensen didn't stir and the sharp knot of worry burrowed deeper into Jared's chest. "Come on," he pleaded, shaking him harder only to watch Jensen's head loll forward. "Will you not die if I tell you I love you? Because I really do, man. You shouldn't have lied to me and you can be a total dick sometimes but I love you anyway." 

Blinking back tears, Jared gathered him into a tighter hug when Jensen stayed motionless as a corpse. "You managed to find someone dumb enough to fall in love with you," he whispered, smelling nothing but smoke as he held him close. "You're not allowed to die without knowing that, asshole."

Jensen still didn't move and Jared pulled back to cup his cheek. 

His face was smudged with dirt and sweat and Jared let their foreheads rest together as he begged, "Wake up, man. Please. I saw you fight a goddamn minotaur yesterday -- you can't get taken out by some stupid smok-"

Jared's heart nearly stopped when Jensen coughed in his face.

"Jensen?" He grabbed at his face, pulling him up to look at him. "Jensen?!"

Jensen coughed again and again. He opened his eyes long enough to knock Jared's hand away before he dropped forward onto his hands to keep coughing. His whole body shook with the force of it but Jared felt light-headed with relief when he heard him take deep breaths between each new bout of coughs.

"You're okay," he said, unable to keep the grin off his face as he rubbed circles between Jensen's shoulder-blades. "You're all right." 

He gestured for some water before resting his hands on Jensen's back once again, enjoying the physical proof that he was alive.

He held the offered wineskin to his lips and helped Jensen get the water down as he teased, "So you'll wake up when I mention minotaurs but not when I tell you I'm in love with you. I see how it is."

Jensen looked confused and exhausted. His voice was hoarse when he asked, "You're in love with me?"

Jared gulped. He really needed to work on the appropriate timing for grand declarations. "Yes?" 

Jensen stared at him and he stammered, "I mean, we need to talk about everything -- I don't want to be that awkward guy who tries to pressure you -- but yeah." He gave him a tentative smile. "I think I am."

He was expecting a reaction anywhere between a slap and a kiss but was taken aback when Jensen looked straight past him. "Jared!"

The first thing he saw when he turned around was the glint of the dagger aimed at his back. Welliver was the one wielding it and his mouth twisted in a cruel smirk of triumph as he brought the knife down.

Jared barely had time to be afraid before Jensen pushed him aside. 

He landed on his injured shoulder but blinked past the darkness at the edges of his vision to see Jensen's hand close around the hilt of his discarded sword. 

The blade went through Welliver's body more easily than Jared had ever imagined. The momentum of the attack carried him forward but Jensen drove it the rest of the way until the hilt slammed against the finery of his clothes.

The dagger that had been destined for Jared's back dropped harmlessly to the ground and Jared watched in sick fascination as blood trickled from Welliver's open mouth. 

Welliver's gaze fixed on Jensen. Even with a sword through his gut, his sneer stayed as cold as ever after he spat blood on the ground at Jensen's feet. "Fucking piece of shit."

The crowd in the square were stunned into silence but Jared caught some gasps below Welliver's groan of pain when Jensen pulled the sword out in one smooth sweep. 

Welliver dropped to his knees, coming level with Jared and Jensen, but neither of them moved to help him as he held a hand to his gut. 

Blood spilled through his fingers from the stab wound, right next to the injury he'd received during the duel, and Jared watched him sway for a long moment before he dropped lifelessly into the dust.

The sword fell a second later. Jensen was pale but the hard set of his jaw spoke of resolve when Jared met his eyes. "Are you alright?"

Jensen nodded jerkily. He looked between Jared and the crowd with growing awareness of what he'd just done in front of a whole city of witnesses. "I- He was going to kill you. I had to."

It sounded like a plea and Jared pulled him in closer as he kept his eyes on the guards. "I know," he said quietly. "I'm glad you did."

He was pretty certain he would fight anyone who tried to arrest Jensen for murder but relief swept through him when he heard a shout from the crowd, "He's dead! Glory be!"

The rest of the citizens took up the call, with any dissenters drowned out by the shouts of praise and thankfulness which sounded out through the city. The people poured forward, heading out into the streets or gathering in excited groups around the square, but Jared tuned out the noise around him as he ran his fingers through Jensen's hair. 

"I guess self-defense is kind of obvious when the guy's charging at you with a sword." He kissed his temple, tasting sweat and smoke. "You saved my life, man. Thank you."

Jensen rested his head against Jared's shoulder. "You did the same for me," he said sleepily. His voice was still croaky from the smoke but he sounded enough like himself to make Jared smile when he teased, "You're gonna have to stop dueling over me though. A guy could get a complex."

"No more duels," Jared agreed. "Next time you can fight for my honor."

Jensen laughed at that but didn't lift his head from Jared's shoulder as he mumbled, "Jared?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm gonna pass out now."

"Ah." Jared looked down to where Jensen was almost asleep against him. "We should probably find a bed and a healer. I didn't bring much gold with me but hopefully they'll let us stay for free, what with us nearly getting killed and everything."

Jensen's only response was a snore.

"Or you could just take a nap here," he said. "That works."

  


For a city dealing with an unexpected change in leadership, the people of Dolona were surprisingly organized.

With guidance from some helpful citizens, Jared had managed to find both a healer and an inn where they could rest up after the excitement of the past few days. 

The healer, Misha, had stitched up the wound in Jared's shoulder and found him some non-bloody, non-torn clothes, which made him look less like he'd lost a wrestling match with an angry boar. He'd treated the minor burns on Jensen's legs and arms and then headed off to the hastily-called town meeting, leaving Jared alone with a barrel of Dolona's finest ale and a semi-conscious partner.

Jared was proud that he'd only downed two mugs of ale by the time Jensen woke up.

He slid off his chair to crouch by the bed as soon as Jensen's eyes fluttered open and he tapped him lightly on the cheek. "Afternoon, princess."

Jensen's face scrunched up in a sleepy pout. "M'not a princess."

"Oh, right." He grinned. "I guess princesses are usually considerate enough to stay conscious after they've been rescued."

Shaking his head, Jensen pushed himself up to a sitting position and yawned while Jared sat down on the bed beside him. "I rescued you too," he complained. "I want half the hero points here."

"You can have all the hero points," Jared said, crossing his legs underneath himself. "I- Are you okay with what happened? I know you were just doing what you had to but if you want to talk-"

"About how I just killed a guy?" The fog of sleep fell away from his eyes as Jensen sat up straighter in the bed. "Because I think I'm okay with it."

Jared didn't intend to side-eye him quite as much as he did. "Really?"

Jensen smiled colorlessly. "I've been doing this a long time, Jared. This isn't the first time I've killed someone." Jared's world tilted a little but Jensen reassured him, "It was self-defense every time and only as a last resort, I swear. I always ran if I could." He looked down at his hands with a tiny shrug. "It's not like I enjoyed it but I can't feel too bad about killing a guy who tried to have me ripped to shreds by a minotaur and then burned alive."

"Totally understandable," Jared said, reaching over to squeeze Jensen's hand. He couldn't say he would've reacted the same way if it had been him holding the sword but then he couldn't say he was sorry to see Welliver dead either. "Personally, I really appreciated not being stabbed in the back, so thanks for that."

The half-hearted joke broke the lingering tension and Jensen held Jared's hand in return while he looked him over. His eyes landed on Jared's injured shoulder and he inspected the bandages as he said, "I'm guessing you found a healer." He glanced at their surroundings. "And an inn."

"Actually, this is just some dude's bedroom," Jared said. "I think he was looking for a threesome. You're cool with that, right?"

Jensen's mouth fell open and Jared laughed. "Man, that was way too easy. Is this what three weeks apart does to you?"

Jensen hit him on the arm, just below his wounded shoulder. "You're a dick."

Jared flashed him an unrepentant grin. "I can't believe you fell for that."

"You almost drowned because you were hoping for group sex with a nymph," Jensen pointed out, not unreasonably. "I'm not underestimating the terribleness of your decisions."

"I'm sorry." Jensen's legs were under the covers still and Jared rested his hands either side of his thighs as he moved in closer. "I am totally monogamous. I promise."

Jensen raised an eyebrow. "Monogamous, huh?" A smile crept across his lips as he asked, "Who's the lucky guy?"

That was clearly a question that required an answer in the form of a kiss and Jared was only too happy to comply.

He'd cleaned Jensen up as much as he could while he'd been asleep but he could still taste smoke on Jensen's lips when he leaned forward into the kiss. His jaw ached with the bruises Welliver's fists and elbow had left behind but it was hard to focus on the pain when he had finally had Jensen here, bruised and burned but one hundred percent alive.

Unable to keep his excitement down at acceptable levels, Jared slung his leg over Jensen's thighs to straddle his lap as he deepened the kiss. Jensen's tongue slid easily against his, his touches light and teasing, and Jared stifled a pleased groan when Jensen parted his legs beneath the blanket and canted his hips up in a reflexive little wriggle.

His mental list of 'possibly inappropriate things he wanted to do with Jensen' grew longer with every passing second and he dropped his head to nip at Jensen's jaw as he contemplated which one to begin with.

Unfortunately, the clatter of the door opening and being shoved out of the way by Jensen soon put an end to his flights of fancy.

He didn't even get chance to look back at the new arrival before Jensen was on the move. Pushing him off, Jensen made it from the bed to the door quicker than Jared had thought possible but he scrambled after him with a shout when Jensen landed a vicious right hook to Morgan's jaw.

"No, don't-"

Morgan fell back but Jensen was on him instantly, shoving him up against the wall as he yelled, "You son of a bitch!"

"Jensen!" 

Catching him around the waist, Jared hauled him backward away from Morgan. He narrowly avoided an elbow to the face as Jensen kicked and struggled but Jared kept hold of him while Morgan tested his jaw with a grimace. 

"Hey, take it easy," Jared said. "Just calm down. You're gonna hurt yourself."

"I'm gonna hurt _him_ ," Jensen spat, pulling against Jared's arms. "He turned us over to Welliver! I got burned at the stake because of him!"

Jared cringed. "Actually," he said, "you got burned at the stake because of both of us."

Jensen went still. 

Morgan stepped forward and Jared loosened his grip around Jensen's waist as he confessed, "The stake-burning was never part of our plan."

Jensen stared at him. "Your plan."

Lowering his hand from his jaw, Morgan gave him a small smile. "You didn't think I'd leave you here to die, did you?"

"But in prison-"

"We had to get Welliver to agree to a public duel," Jared said, stepping in closer as Jensen looked between the two of them. "This was the best way we could think of. I took on Welliver…"

"And I dealt with the guards," Morgan finished. He glanced over to Jared. "Which went great, thanks for asking."

"Good to know."

"Wait," Jensen interrupted. 

He looked from Morgan to Jared in confusion. Jared mostly just wanted to kiss the crinkle that formed between his eyebrows. "Why didn't you tell me? You could've signaled or winked or done _something_ to let me know you weren't really betraying me like that?"

"We couldn't risk it," Morgan said. "Welliver needed to trust me and he wasn't going to do that if he thought your surprise was anything less than sincere." He took a step closer to Jensen, visibly wary of getting another punch to the face for his efforts, but he reached out to put a hand on his shoulder when the blow never came. "For what it's worth, I'm really sorry I did that to you, kid."

Jensen's eyes were watery when he looked up at him. "I'm sorry I punched you in the face."

Apparently that was what passed for bonding between the two of them, and Jared stepped back as Jensen and Morgan moved in for a quick, back-patting hug.

He'd forgiven Jensen for lying to him for so long -- saving Jared's life and getting the shit kicked out of him by a giant, vicious man-beast was apparently a winning combination when it came to redemption -- but Jared couldn't quite shake the residual feelings of bitterness towards Morgan for his part in it all. He was glad the guy wasn't dead but he was extra glad when Jensen broke away from the hug and moved back to Jared's side.

Jared hoped he didn't look as smug as he felt.

"I guess I should get back to the meeting," Morgan said with a smile. "Let you two have some privacy." He walked back into the hallway and addressed both of them when he said, "I'm really glad you're okay."

Jensen leaned into Jared. "Me too."

It felt like some part of the exchange had gone over Jared's head but he couldn't bring himself to care when Morgan headed out to the town meeting. Jensen stood close, resting his head on Jared's shoulder, and Jared wrapped his arm around him as he asked, "We good?"

"Perfect." Looking down at his bandaged feet, he amended. "Well, almost perfect."

Jared spoke before he could stop himself. "What happens now?"

He'd wanted to build up to it, rather than demanding answers like an impatient child, but he couldn't help the twinge of jealousy at the sight of Jensen and Morgan together. Besides, if he was going to be abandoned again, he wanted to know sooner rather than later.

Jensen turned to face him, bemused, and Jared asked quietly, "What're you going to do? Are you and Morgan…"

"No," Jensen said with a surprising level of conviction. "No, me and Jeff are done."

Jared's heartbeat promptly doubled in speed. "Oh. I- That- Oh."

Jensen rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you got so suave while I was gone."

Jared rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. "Suaveness was never really one of my strengths."

"I don't know," Jensen teased, "it's kind of endearing how bad you are at this."

Reaching up to loop his arms around Jared's neck, Jensen let their noses rub together for a second before pulling back to meet his eyes. Even with the bruises painting his skin, Jensen was a sight for sore eyes, and Jared drank in the easy grin that spread across his face.

"You're still the least smooth person I know," Jensen said, "but I really missed you, man."

Jared nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I hear minotaurs are really bad kissers."

Laughing, Jensen reached around to pinch his ear. "I was trying to be serious here."

"Right, right, I'm sorry." Jared fixed a sober expression on his face as he pulled Jensen closer. "I'll just stand here and listen to you tell me how much you missed my ravishing good looks and charming personality. Go right ahead."

"Shut up."

His grip tightened to pull Jared down towards him and Jared managed to wipe the grin off his face before Jensen's lips met his. Jared held him close, almost sweeping him up off the ground as he slanted their lips together, and he let himself relax into the slow familiarity of the kiss.

Jensen definitely wasn't the only one who'd missed this.

  


"If you stole my pillow, I'm going to kill you."

Propped up on his own makeshift pillow, Jared looked over to where Jensen was making his way up the slope from the lake. Night had fallen more than an hour ago but the moon was full and bright above the trees and the dying light of the campfire gave Jared a very enjoyable view as Jensen padded back to bed.

"The pillow is all yours," he said around a yawn. "My head didn't defile it while you were gone."

Jensen's gait was uneven, thanks to the vigor of the evening's activities or to the fact that Jensen had borrowed Jared's too-big boots when he went down to clean himself up in the lake. The bow of his legs was suitably appealing though and Jared watched appreciatively when Jensen paused to rummage through his pack.

He was naked, save for the boots and the barely-there shorts he insisted on sleeping in, and Jared's gaze traveled up the curve of his thighs, the round of his ass and the line of his back before coming to a halt just below his shoulder-blades. His skin was damp with lake water but the burn stood out as Jensen pulled an oversized shirt over his head to serve as pajamas.

"Did you really get that by falling on some blacksmith's irons?"

The shirt fell past Jensen's ass as he looked over his shoulder, confused.

"The burn," Jared clarified. "The one on your back. You said you got it when you were an apprentice but…"

 _You lied to me about a lot of other things_ was the obvious end to that sentence but Jared let it go unsaid while Jensen toed the boots off and lowered himself to the ground.

"It wasn't a blacksmith's iron," Jensen admitted. "Not at first."

He settled down on his stomach beside him and rested his arms on the pillow. "I got caught stealing some food a long time ago and they branded me as a thief. When I started working with Jeff, it was too dangerous to go on jobs with a mark like that so he covered it for me."

Jensen had gotten into the habit of sharing secrets like that, Jared had noticed. He'd started speeding through the truth as though he thought the shadyness of his past would be less obvious if he got through every explanation in five seconds or less. It was a habit which remained on their list of 'things to be worked on as a couple', along with Jared's tendency to get grumpy at every mention of Morgan's name, and the relationship of mutual distrust which still existed between Jensen and Sadie. 

(Jared had refused to take sides.) 

The day's travel and the evening's escapades had worn him out, however, and he decided not to push it further. Getting the truth at all was enough to make him happy for now and he leaned over to kiss Jensen on the cheek in gratitude. "I'm sorry, man. That sounds rough."

"Could've been worse." He tried for nonchalance and didn't quite make it. "I'm not real keen on fire anymore though." 

Knocking their shoulders together, Jared lay back down as he pointed out, "I don't think anyone would be really into fire after they nearly got burned to death." 

"That too," Jensen said, relaxing more as he rolled onto his back beside him. "I guess you'll just have to be in charge of building the campfires from now on."

Jared raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

"Yep." Jensen grinned. "I can spectate and applaud at appropriate intervals."

"You can cook your own food too," he threatened. "Just remember that killing a chicken and accidentally setting its feathers on fire doesn't count as cooking."

"I hate you," Jensen said without malice. "Remind me again why I agreed to put up with this?"

"Because I'm so devastatingly attractive that you couldn't bear to be parted from me?" Jared deadpanned before reeling off some more guesses. "Because you knew I'd get eaten by a griffin without you there to watch my back? Because Morgan decided to stay in Dolona and you were feeling lonely without a partner? Because you're really into my dick?"

Jensen's laughter drifted up through the trees. "You do have a very nice dick."

"I know," he said with feigned seriousness. "But hey, I know you're really here because you're hopelessly in love with me." He put a hand to his heart. "You can admit it. I won't judge you."

Jensen's face was lit up by the glow of the fire when he smiled. "You mean you hadn't figured that out yet?"

"Of course I did," he said reflexively. 

He paused as Jensen's words sunk in.

"Wait, figured what out?"

Jensen sighed. "You're a genius."

Still lost, Jared couldn't do anything but lie there when Jensen bent over him to catch his lips in a kiss. It was thorough and deep and wet, just the slick slide of Jensen's tongue and the warm press of his lips, and Jared let himself bask in the pleasant sensations that went tingling through him at the contact.

He blinked dopily up at the stars when Jensen pulled back and he couldn't stop himself from smiling when things clicked neatly into place. "You're in love with me."

Jensen stretched out against him with a yawn, his bare legs slotted in against Jared's. "Maybe a little."

Deciding that a victory fistpump was inappropriate for the quiet campfire vibe, Jared settled for carding his fingers through Jensen's hair. He kissed him on the forehead before resting back on his own pillow (which was admittedly inferior to Jensen's) and inching towards the change of subject which Jensen so clearly wanted. "So, lover, where are we going tomorrow?"

"Please never call me that again."

"Duly noted."

"We'll head over to Marlo," Jensen said, apparently pacified. "They've still got that goblin problem which needs taking care of."

"Sounds good." He tweaked Jensen's nose as he teased, "Maybe we can do the job without you stealing any of the goblins' treasure this time."

"They were busy trying to rip people's ears off," Jensen muttered. "It's not like they were using it."

"You have a problem," Jared said with mock solemnity. "You should get help."

"Your face should get help."

Chuckling, Jared pulled him close to kiss him again. Now that he knew first-hand that Jensen wasn't stealing from anyone or anything who didn't deserve it, he mostly found his thieving habit endearing. 

(Jensen claimed he only did it to keep his skills sharp. Jared suspected he was getting in some practice so that he could pilfer the last bits of chicken from the pot without Jared noticing.)

Still stupidly pleased by the subdued declaration of love, Jared couldn't bring himself to get too grumpy about possible chicken theft when he had Jensen snuggled up next to him, all warm and sleepy and content. The stars glittered above them as he stared up into the night sky and he found himself pondering aloud, "You know, I could just retire right now. I mean, I defeated the bad guy..."

"With some help," Jensen pointed out.

"I made my fortune."

"Which I want half of."

"And I got the girl."

"The guy," Jensen said, landing an elbow to his ribs. 

"So it's retirement time now, right?" Jared said. "All the adventurers I heard of when I was a kid -- Samantha the Bold, Sterling the Valiant, Mark the Mostly Competent -- they always settled down when they'd done all that." He looked over to Jensen for guidance. "Am I done now?"

"Nope."

Jared blinked. "Wow, thanks for your detailed input."

Jensen shook his head and smirked. "Picky. Look, you've done a lot and you've had a great career so far but c'mon, retirement? Jared, you can't sit still for two minutes without getting bored and handsy." He yawned again. "Also I don't think you can retire after less than a year in the job."

He had a point. 

"Fine," Jared relented. He stretched out under the blankets and let out an exaggerated sigh. "I guess I can be a dashing adventurer and live happily ever after at the same time."

Tucked up close at his side, Jensen rested his hand on his chest and looked up at him with a sleepy smile. Jared was pretty sure he would fight dragons and nymphs and evil lords a dozen times over if it meant he always got to see that smile.

"Happily ever after, huh?" Jensen said, leaning up to give him one last kiss. "I think I could live with that."

  



End file.
